


Marks of Destiny

by Eve_Fics



Series: Miraculous DC Crossovers [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien salt, Alya Césaire Bashing, Alya Salt, F/F, F/M, Kagami has a family secret, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila salt, M/M, MariBat, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmark AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Team Miraculous, Teen Titans References, They Protect their Own, Young Justice references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2020-12-08 23:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20985185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eve_Fics/pseuds/Eve_Fics
Summary: SoulmatesThey’re a fact of everyday life. Most people have at least 3 or more; it's unheard of for anyone to have none. Soulmates can disappear, their marks appearing if they hadn’t before, and fade until they’re almost unnoticeable.Many believed that soulmates were strictly romantic though throughout the centuries after their sudden appearance on humanity that theory was disproved.A soulmark, the mark of your soulmate, would appear the moment your soulmate made contact, matching the location with their soulmate; the appearance the soulmark would take varied. It could appear as an image, their name or a quote.Soulmarks, however, were incomplete until you and your soulmate truly bonded, fulfilling the trust of being there for each other no matter what. When done the soulmark would take full color, no longer dull as when it appeared, along with the outline.Bronze signified platonicSilver was used for mentor figuresIridescent was discovered for companions or team-mates, Destined.Gold was always known for being romantic.Even so most people never met all of their soulmates.But these kids weren’t average people.





	1. A Gotham Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> This has a large doses of salt that has been kept withing ever since Lila was introduced.

Soulmates

They’re a fact of everyday life. Most people have at least 3 or more; it's unheard of for anyone to have none. Soulmates can disappear, their marks appearing if they hadn’t before, and fade until they’re almost unnoticeable.

Many believed that soulmates were strictly romantic though throughout the centuries after their sudden appearance on humanity that theory was disproved. 

A soulmark, the mark of your soulmate, would appear the moment your soulmate made contact, matching the location with their soulmate; the appearance the soulmark would take varied. It could appear as an image, their name or a quote.

Soulmarks, however, were incomplete until you and your soulmate truly bonded, fulfilling the trust of being there for each other no matter what. When done the soulmark would take full color, no longer dull as when it appeared, along with the outline.

It was discovered that the relationship you had with your soulmark would depend on the color of the outline (Many believed it was the other way around). Bronze signified platonic, Silver was used for mentor figures and iridescent was discovered for companions or team-mates, bonds that were stronger than just platonic and were destined for something great together.

Gold was always known for being romantic.

It was also believed that soulmark would not appear on those who share bloodlines.

Even so most people never met all of their soulmates. 

But these kids weren’t average people.

  
  
  


Marinette was grateful for soulmates, really she was.

Because without them things would be _ worse _.

Within the span of two years what she was here Lila, or as she and her soulmates called her Lie-la, managed to turn the class against Marinette, like she had threatened.

Alya, her supposed best friend, stood besides Lila on everything, acting as her entourage and guard dog. Well Marinette was grateful they weren’t soulmates (it would have hurt far worse).

Marinette was lucky to have met nine (9) of her soulmates.

According to Tikki, Miraculous holders tended to have many soulmates in their lives. It was also the way to assure that the proper user had been chosen when the iridescent outline would appear.

Currently Marinette was talking with her soulmates, waiting for their flight to arrive. As class president, Marinette entered her class for a chance to win a trip to Gotham, the most crime-filled city and home to the Batman. It was also home to famous billionaire Bruce Wayne and his company headquarters, Wayne Enterprise.

She worked long and hard, with the help of her soulmates, she managed to make a 10-page essay showing all the accomplishments of her class as well as the community service they did for the city; from planting trees along the Seine, to helping post-Akuma attacks and holding fundraisers for free mental health initiatives.

“I can’t believe were actually going to Gotham!” Kim yelled out

“Do you think we’ll see the Batman or Robin?” Nathaniel looked with what could be described as sparkles in his eyes. Marc, enjoying Nathaniel being more open about his passions, grabbed the boy’s hand with a soft smile. On their right wrists, the dominant hands, was a quote in a golden outline;_ ‘Creativity take courage’ _

“I bet it’ll be great inspiration for the comic”

“What’s the chance we even see them during our trip anyway?” Alix looked over to Max, he in turn was imputing the information and waited for Markov.

“There’s a 79.9% chance that we will see or encounter Batman or any of his associations on this month long trip”

“Yeah, especially if Lila keeps babbling on about how she’s Batman’s civilian aide. Like is she trying to get us killed?” Nino looked on to see Lila and her group first annoyed and then saddened.

Surrounding Lila was Alya, a given, Sabrina, her personal servant, Adrien, though looking annoyed, Rose, Mylene, Ivan and Juleka, though the later two looked more uncomfortable. They suspect that they were near Lila because of their soulmates. Nino looked over with a longing gaze, they knew he missed Alya and Adrien, his soulmates though not established enough to reveal their bonds, but they made their choice.

Nino has stuck close to them at the beginning, not believing Lila’s claim without evidence against Marinette but he did his best to placate Adrien and Alya. It wasn’t until he thought long and hard about how they were treating him as well as talking with a therapist Marinette suggested, Fu, that he realized how toxic it became.

The same could be said for the others.

Sure Kim, Max, Nathaniel and Alix were skeptical at first, believing that perhaps Marinette had done something rash in her jealousy for Adrien but once the claims started getting bigger and more out of character they thought it was getting too unreal.

Max hacking into the school’s cameras and seeing that Lila had done those things to herself made them furious.

They didn’t even want to broach the fact that she “saved Max from getting his eye gouged “ with a napkin.

(They didn’t even bother entertaining Lila as she claimed that Marinette was markless, which was why she never showed much skin, and the reason why she was _ so jealous _ of Lila and all her special marks)

Marc joined the class after Lila had left for wherever she said and had the chance to bond with Marinette , he was especially thankful to her since she was the one to help him fully establish his bond with Nathaniel, finally revealing the rainbow words with gold.

“We should make the most out of the trip guys, Hawkmoth can’t affect us in Gotham. No more suppressing emotions, being the bigger people, honestly it’ll be refreshing” Alix sighed in relief as the others nodded as well. As “healthy” their coping was it was still annoying having to control emotions; Hawkmoth was no longer satisfied with anger. Embarrassment, Confusion, Fear and Betrayal were the ones he most recently started using.

Seriously a child who had a nightmare?!

“And we’ll get to see Chloe again”

No one liked it when they found out they were Soulmates with Chloe, she didn’t like it either. Though they were all close for a while.

It hurt to have your soulmate die.

Chloe had moved with her mother after getting tired of Lila and the bullying. Sure they didn’t exactly see eye to eye with her but they didn’t think the threats and bullying were necessary, by that point she was actually becoming a good person. 

Lila managed to rally the school against her.

Even Sabrina, Chloe’s platonic soulmate, had turned her back on her.

  
  


They stood by Chloe, along with Luka, their other soulmate.

The worst came when an Akuma, Queen of Hearts, publicly executed mayor Bourgeois and, worst of all, Jean.

Chloe, having been Queen Bee, was nearly akumatized at that moment.

Even though they were fine after Ladybug’s cure only those who had been transformed had remembered the horrors of that day; but photos and videos remained.

Lila and her followers kept spamming Chloe with the images, even printing and placing them all over the school.

They were outraged and demanded punishment for the outright bullying but Chloe had given up; she didn’t want to deal with it anymore.

They collectively decided to put their past beef with Chloe on the side and have a big sleepover the day before she left with her mother, Kagami being informed and had managed to convince her mother to allow her to go along (Her mother only agreed because it had to do with her soulmates; although she couldn’t see them herself Tomoe was able to feel the mark and the bonds). They had also convinced her to ask Jean to go with her; something the man promised he’d do no matter what.

That was the day when they all gained a bee and when she finally saw what her soulmark was.

  
  
  


They really couldn’t wait to get into the peace of their hotel rooms.

The plane ride itself wasn’t as awful as they thought it would be, the group managed to entertain themselves and each other.

Marinette had been showing them the final versions of their evening wear she had designed since Bruce Wayne had invited them to the famous Wayne Gala during their stay. She made them backless but offered a covered alternative if it made them uncomfortable; Marinette secretly hoped so since they were a bit _ spot on _in terms of why they were iridescent. 

They were bummed to learn that Luka and Kagami couldn’t go but Marinette had hinted that they could always drop by at one point.

Marinette had been recognized by Luka and Kagami almost immediately after establishing their bond, proving just how strong their links were. She had also made the decision, as the future guardian of the Miracle Box, to give them the Miraculous permanently.

“Damibear is hoping that I’m his romantic soulmate; I told him that we have no way to do it ourselves and have to wait for destiny” Marinette rolled her eyes with Alix. Who would wish to be soulmates with someone like her?

“Oh how romantic!” Rose said as she held onto the middle of her chest, where the golden soulmark of a blue rose was in the middle of another golden soulmark, a bouquet of red tulips. Rose had gotten her soulmarks and was bonded not too long ago. It was not unheard of to have more than one romantic soulmate, though extremely rare. It was almost unheard of that they were also not soulmates.

Even Chloe had not tried to add more drama to the mix of Rose, Juleka and Prince Ali. Apparently the prince thought that Rose had not wanted to be with him since she was already bonded with Juleka but she sat down with them and told them that she wanted to try making it work if they were fine with it.

It made Lila’s lies regarding him even more unbelievable that it _ was _believed. It wasn’t until Juleka had the brains to call him and ask that they realized that she lied about the “eco friendly charities” she helped him with. At least that’s how Alix put it.

“Unfortunately he’s busy traveling abroad. I’m not even sure if he’ll make it to the gala this year” Lila’s honey voice seeped in melancholy, not that the soulmates believed her.

“That’s a shame girl, but who knows, maybe he will be your romantic soulmate. After all you deserve the best”

⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

“Isn’t that French class arriving today?” Bruce turned to see Clark looking up from his latest paper. Clark and Jon had taken to staying over during the weekdays more often now that Lois did more traveling abroad more often for her stories (though they went back to the farm to take care of the animals)

“Yes it is. They won’t start any of the actual activities until tomorrow, it is a long flight after all”

“They’re invited to the gala correct? Perhaps we can investigate the claims of the heroes in Paris”

Both men turned to see Diana, already done with her morning routine, heading down the stairs and on the way to work.

The three shared two marks, one was a symbol on their right shoulder, a gladius crossed over with an olive branch and tying the two items was a ribbon ‘Justicia’ written on it. This soulmark was iridescent.

The next mark was located on their left collarbone, a quote that represented them in gold;

_ If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us. _

“I’ve had Tim and Barbara investigate but no record of damage to the city has appeared. Any video or photo of the heroes has been erased or blurred. The news continues reporting these but whenever we attempt to read the articles they get turned into gibberish. Though we did find some disturbing photos”

Bruce showed them the photo of the Mayor of Paris being beheaded, it looked too real to be photoshopped.

“There must be some sort of magic in the mix” Clark hummed, perhaps he could ask Lois if she had any connections in the city.

“Yes perhaps 𑁋” the thought was cut off as they heard yelling coming from upstairs.

Another typical day at the Wayne mansion.

⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

  
  


Marinette couldn’t believe her luck.

Actually she could.

And it was all thanks to Lila;

See the class was supposed to leave for Wayne Tower but when she had gone downstairs to meet up with the class the staff told her they left half an hour early.

Marinette was really glad they weren’t in Paris or _ who knows _ what might have happened.

“Ugh I can’t believe that lying little!” Marinette hadn’t seen where she was going, rushing in anger to Wayne Tower until she felt herself bump into a hard surface. Not just any surface.

_ A person. _

“I am _ so _sorry! I didn’t see where I was going”

Suddenly Marinette felt a warm feeling on her back, right where her soulmarks were. She looked at the person in front of her; he was pale and taller than her, long black hair parted in the middle with ice blue eyes.

“Well hello there. My name is Tim and I’m your soulmate” Tim responded with an air of confidence as Marinette stood up straight and grasped.

“Hello Tim, my name is Marinette. I’m actually kind of lost, do you think you can help me?”

“Of course, I’ve lived here my entire life after all. You’re not from Gotham are you?” Marinette could feel her cheeks heat up as he asked and she nodded.

“I’m actually here on a class trip from Paris. It seems like they left for Wayne Tower earlier than planned” she tried reigning in the salt in her voice but reminded herself that she was no longer within Hawkmoth’s domain.

“That’s a horrible idea. Does your teacher not realize that this is one of the most crime ridden cities in the country? Probably the world”

_ ‘Oh he has no clue’ _

“She probably didn’t even notice if Lie-la had anything to do with it” Marinette muttered in French, unbeknownst to her Tim happen to be fluent.

“Well I can show the way, I actually work there with my family” Marinette paled at his fluent French, hoping he wouldn’t ask about Lila.

“I actually think you may be part of my group of soulmates,” Marinette began as they walked the not so busy streets of Gotham, it was past rush hour at this point. Tim turned to Marinette in question,

“You’re part of a Destined soulmark?”

“Yep, in fact most are in my class and I can tell that you’re part of the group as well”

_ Miraculous simply the best~ _

Marinette realized her phone was ringing, she scrambled to get it out of her purse with help from Tikki to see that it was Max.

“Hello?”

“Marinette we are so sorry!” On the line she could hear Nino with Max, with Alix yelling expletives in the background. “We tried telling Madame Bustier but she insisted we go ahead. Apparently Miss Perfect told her that we were rescheduled for earlier and we were running late”

“Of course she did” Marinette felt herself wanting to strangle the girl with her own sausage hair but let it go “I’m almost there and I think I’ve met another member of our Soulmate group”

“Really? We look forward to meeting them then. Be careful Mari”

“Let’s go meet with our soulmates”

⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

  
  
  


Nathaniel was mad sure, but he was content compared to Alix. 

The fiery girl was being held back by Kim as she kept trying to fight the madame Bustier or Lila and her posse. Not that he blamed her.

Nino and Max were trying to reach Marinette with texts and calls until she finally answered. Thankfully she was on her way with the help of, who she believed was, another one of their soulmates.

Marc looked concerned next to him, grasping at his hand as Nathaniel rubbed circles with his thumb.

“Excuse me but were you able to reach the other student?” the duo turned around to see their tour guide, the man who made madame Bustier finally call the hotel to see where Marinette was, only for them to say that she had already left the hotel.

His name tag said Richard.

“Uh Y-yes! She says she’s on her way and that someone was bringing her” Marc’s face was dusted in pink, not that Nathaniel could blame him. The man before them looked like he could be an underwear model.

The man had muttered something that the boys had not picked up but he just smiled and walked back to madame Bustier. Just then they turned to see Marinette in a light jog along with a black haired man, probably in his early twenties.

Marinette completely passed their teacher and Lila’s posse, heading to their little group of Destined.

“Mari!” Alix launched herself into Marinette with the rest of the boys following.

“We were worried dudette” Nino sighed as they split momentarily as Marinette pulled along the man with her.

“I’m sorry for worrying you guys but this is the guy I was telling you about. Guys, this is Tim”

The group looked at each other before pulling Tim into a group hug. All of them feeling the familiar warmth on their back though for Tim it was much more intense, it felt like it was spreading throughout his body.

Marinette smiled as she saw the faint glow of the marks before continuing with introductions.

“Tim, meet Alix, Kim, Nino, Max, Nathaniel and Marc; your soulmates. There’s also Kagami, Luka and Chloe but they aren’t here today”

Tim looked flustered like he didn’t know what to do or say, then again what would you when you just met seven soulmates in the span of ten minutes, touching six of them at once.

“Damn Tim, I don’t think the others will believe you when you tell them about this. Luckily for you I recorded this” the group turned to see Richard, a smirk on his face as he pulled Tim into a half hug. Richard looked similar to Tim with black hair and blue eyes; though Richard’s complexion was darker, his hair longer and wavy and his eyes more of a sky blue.

“Hello little lady” he turned to look at Marinette, a brotherly smile on his face, “You certainly gave us a scare but don’t worry I’ve made sure to inform the others of what happened. Anyway, it's nice to meet Timmy’s soulmates. I’m Richard but most people call me Dick, Tim’s oldest brother.”

The others were happy to introduce themselves and get the tour started, ignoring whatever Lila was saying about Marinette. Tim had decided to hang with them and get to know his soulmates, though at the back of his head he couldn’t help but think;

_ ‘Their marks are where Cass, Mar’i ,demon spawn, and his friend’s are’ _

This was certainly going to be an interesting class .

  
  


⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

  
  


“Wait so you guys are adopted?” it was time for lunch so the group was enjoying a complimentary lunch from the Wayne Tower cafeteria. They decided to play twenty questions to get to know eachother better. They mostly let Tim ask as many questions as he wanted along with his brother, given they knew each other pretty well by this point.

“Could have fooled us”

“Yeah you guys do look alike even though you’re not related”

Though somehow they ended up finding out that the brothers were not in fact related by blood.

“Yeah,” Tim sighed as Dick laughed “We get that a lot”

“You’d find it weird how many of our siblings have black hair and blue eyes. Though our dad’s only bio kid actually has green eyes” Dick elaborated making Alix and Kim snicker.

“Yeah yeah our dad has weird tastes. Anyway what do you guys do outside of school?” Tim hadn’t had this much fun getting to know a group of soulmates since he met the members of Young Justice and even then it had only been four people.

“Well Nathaniel and Marc over here are working on a comic together; you should check it out” the petite girl with pink hair, Alix, nudged at the boys (they learned that the two were also romantic soulmates).

“Alix likes doing graffiti and competing in sports with Kim” Marc spoke out in retaliation.

“Max loves to code and even has a little robot buddy, Markov” the bot in question got out of his hiding spot inside of Max’s bag. 

“Whoa” Tim looked like he wanted to break open Markov and see how he functioned but decided that now was not the time. He could always ask Max later. 

“Nino djs during his free time and usually writes his own music with Luka” Nathaniel continues to carry the conversation.

“Kagami is a competitive fencer, she seems pretty intense but she’s a sweetheart “ Marinette nodded along.

“Both Chloe and Marinette are into fashion but Mari actually makes and designs her own clothes. She even made all our outfits for the Gala at the end of the trip” Nino playfully nudged the blushing girl.

“She’ll probably want to design you a matching outfit to go with” Kim teased as Max nodded.

“It’s a 99.8% chance she was going to ask for your measurements or just guess them herself” the others started laughing as Marinette’s cheeks got redder but before she could rebuff something had hit the back of her head. Hard.

Suddenly she felt something drip onto her clothes and on her hair. 

“Oops, sorry Marinette. You know I can’t help it with my arthritis” the group turned to see Lila, Tim and Dick looking at the girl skeptically.

“Arthritis my ass! You’re nothing more than a lying little𑁋!” Alix was held back by Kim as the others glared at Lila.

“What is your problem! Didn’t you hear her say she was sorry, something _ some of us _ don’t know how to do” Alya came in charging, glaring especially at Marinette and Nino.

“Oh please that was a half-assed apology” Tim rolled his eyes, Dick had gathered some napkins and tried getting the sauce out of Marinette’s hair while Marc tried getting it out of her clothes.

They knew the stain was probably not getting off.

“What did you say!?” Tim was startled, though he kept his poker face, as Alya slammed her hands onto the table in front of him. He could choose to ignore her but he felt annoyed for interrupting his bonding time.

“I said it was half-assed. _ Or do I need to say it in another language for you _” he switched to French and knew he was being, as Conner usually said, petty but he felt that they deserved it. Plus she was the one that got the whole cafeteria’s attention.

“You’re the _ worst _Dupain-Cheng. Oh Lila, you got tomato sauce on your jacket, let me take that!” Sabrina came in as per usual and pulled Lila away “I have your medicine in my purse”

“T-Thanks Sabrina, I don’t know what I would do without you two”

Alix needed to be held back again as they saw her crocodile tears fall.

“Look at what you did Marinette. You have to apologize to Lila, it wasn’t her fault” she really tried tuning out the voice of her ex-crush, though Max and Nino were doing a pretty good job for her.

Next thing they know the rest of the class (everyone who was pretty much on Lila’s side) came and started yelling.

_ “It wasn’t her fault!” _

_ “Are you guys seriously that stupid!” _

_ “If you guys don’t stop…!” _

_ “What are you going to do without the shared brain cell” _

_ “Why would you want to be involved with her” _

_ “Wouldn’t you want to know” _

It was chaos.

Dick saw the security guards coming in but he motioned for them to stay still for now; he quickly placed two fingers in his mouth and gave a loud whistle. 

_ That got their attention. _

“Madame Bustier are you not going to do anything about this situation?” Dick knew what it was like having to deal with a group of teenagers but the woman wasn’t doing anything; she just checked up on Lila Rossi and asked about her arthritis, she didn’t even bother checking up on Marinette.

“O-of course!” the tall ginger got up and made her way to Marinette, leaning over the girl. “Marinette you know better than to cause a commotion; what would Mr. Wayne say about this sort of behavior coming from the class President”

** _Un- _ ** **fucking- ** ** _believable_ **

Both boys were starting to understand why Alix kept cursing out the teacher.

Meanwhile Marinette just wanted to disappear, she felt her heart racing and the tears beginning to form in her eyes. She just wanted to get out of there before her classmates could make more accusations.

“You’re wrong”

They all jumped in place to see a young Asian woman in front of them, her phone in her hand as she stared down at the taller woman. Her black hair was kept short, just above her shoulders, and her body was definitely fit, with her skater dress and leggings showing off the muscles.

“Cass, what are you doing here?” Tim snapped out of it and looked to see his sister now defending his soulmate.

“Saw big bro’s video and came to check it out” she shrugged before addressing the teacher again “Why is she to blame? She was the victim, not the sausage girl”

That made the Destined group burst out laughing, they liked her bluntness. Even Marinette felt herself giggle at the other group’s outrage

“W-well Marinette should have defused the situation, she needs to lead by example” Caline Bustier tried regaining control over the situation but was met by three unimpressed looks.

“They are not babies; they should know better. She’s not in charge of them; you are” Tim stated in the “impatient CEO” voice as Stephanie dubbed it (it was him talking to people as though they were toddlers).

”You didn’t even bother to get involved until after I probbed you, not to mention you also left her behind earlier this morning.” Dick looked like he couldn't even believe that he _ had _to talk about this “It's only your first full day in Gotham and you’ve already raised reason for concern for the safety of your students and your capabilities as a teacher”

“Wonder what Mr.Wayne would say about this?” Cass nonchalantly waved her phone, they had a feeling that she had recorded the incident.

“N-now there’s no reason we should be so rash. Kids will be kids y-you understand, right?” Dick decided that there was no point in entertaining the idea, instead he sighed and came up with an idea.

“This is what we’re going to do; You’ll be taking Lila Rossi, Alya Cesair, Adrien Agreste, Sabrina Raincomprix, Rose Lavillant and Mylene Haprele back to the hotel where they will remain for the remainder of the day as punishment for _ this _,” he gestured at the table where the group had been sitting which was now covered in food. “The rest of the group can continue the tour once we get this mess cleaned up”

“How is that fair!” 

“Seeing as it was Lila who started this whole thing and the rest only added fuel to the fire, I think this is a just punishment” Tim crossed his arms next to Dick “Believe me when I say this is you guys getting it easy”

Madame Bustier looked ready to fight but had, wisely, backed down and reluctantly began to take the group with her towards the security guards. Ivan and Juleka looked at one another before jogging to meet up with the other group.

Marinette realized how cold the sauce was making her.

“Cass,” the group’s tension disappeared as Dick’s voice was nonchalant again, “ can you take Marinette to the showers and get her some spare clothes, Alix why don’t you go with them; it beats hanging out with the guys”

His sister just nodded, guiding the two girls into the elevator before Dick turned to his younger brother.

“Don’t you have interesting soulmates?”

Twenty minutes, a thanks to the janitor and apology to the employees for their interrupted breaks, later the girls returned. Both Marinette and Alix sporting black Wayne Enterprise sweatshirts, Marinette having borrowed red leggings and black sneakers from Cass (she claimed it was fine and that she didn’t wear them often anyway). She had wanted to take her dirty clothes but Cass said that WE would cover her dry cleaning.

“Thanks again Cass” Marinette smiled at the girl as Cass gave her own small version. 

“It’s no problem. Sorry it happened” Alix then decided that she liked this girl and had gone for a girl group hug. Before they knew it the feeling of warmth was on their backs.

“Huh”

The boys had realized something had happened when Alix and Marinette had begun to laugh though Cass looked like she was surprised.

“Tim, you didn’t say your sister was our soulmate” Alix said accusingly “Finally more estrogen”

“Seriously!?” Dick looked between his siblings before pouting “ I feel left out”

“Group hug!”

  
  


⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

  
  


“Are you sure your family will be fine with having us over?”

Marinette and her Destined were all sitting in a limo, provided by the siblings, on their way to their house. Dick had told them that the tour they were scheduled for in three days would cover the rest of the tour. He insisted that they should go to their place seeing as they were soulmates with both his younger siblings, especially after the two admitted to having a younger brother that was also their soulmate.

“You guys live pretty far from the city” Nathaniel commented as he observed the buildings turn into forest, each house getting bigger and further from one another.

“It’s been in the family for generations, old Gotham money if you will” Tim explained as the ride continued. Cass had a pensive look on her face before stating;

“I think Mar’i may be our soulmate”

“Uh like Marinette?” Kim asked as she shook her head, Dick looked exasperated.

“Seriously? Even my daughter?”

“I’d say it's a time for celebration for young miss Mar’i” the older man driving would be heard, if they remember he introduced himself as Alfred Pennyworth.

“You have a daughter?” Dick didn’t look old so they could only guess that Mar’i was rather young. 

“Yep! She’s my little nightstar; her mother is one of my soulmates” Dick took out his phone, showing them a photo of a girl, between five and seven years old, scrunched up between Dick and who they guess is her mother, a beautiful woman with other worldly skin and bright green eyes, her fiery curly hair was long and looked like it wrapped around her. The next photo was of them accompanied by a ginger haired man with freckles and vivid green eyes.

“Who’s he?” Marc asked, the three adults looked pretty close, it was then he noticed the matching marks in gold on their left shoulder.

“He is the other love of my life and my best friend, my husband Wally”

“Oooh”

“It appears that we’ve arrived at the manor” Alfred told the group as they finally noticed the car had stopped. Alfred helped them come out of the car, Marc being the last one out, when he grasped the older man’s hand he felt the warmth for a third time that day.

“H-Hello mister Pennyworth, my name is Marc Anciel”

“Why it’s a pleasure to meet you Mister Anciel”

“Even Alfred” Dick whispered to himself before shaking his head and gesturing the manor to the group.

“Welcome to Wayne Manor!”

  
  


** _“WAYNE MANOR!?”_ **


	2. The Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang get to know their soulmates more, even meeting new ones.  
But not everything is sunshine and rainbows with this group....

“Oh did we forget to tell you that?” 

Dick looked at the group of Parisians in different states of shock. Max had his glasses sliding down his nose, Alix looking like she was silently screaming, Nino and Nathaniel has their eyes wide open, while Kim,Marc and Marinette had their mouths wide open.

Whoops?

“I thought we forgot something” he heard Cass whisper to herself. They may have gotten too caught up and forgot to tell the group their full names.

“I would suggest we clear up any misunderstanding, master Dick” Alfred sneaked up from behind him, already having parked the limo and was standing by the manor’s entrance. How in the heck did he do that?

“Don’t worry Alfred, we got this,” Dick cleared his throat, catching the group’s attention “Allow me to reintroduce myself; I’m Richard John Grayson(-West), the oldest” he gave an expectant look at the other two who nodded.

“Sorry, I’m Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne”

“Cassandra Wayne”

“Ohhh…” was the collective response from the group “You’re_ the Waynes _ “ before anything else could be said a black blur made impact with Dick.

“Daddy!”

“How’s my little nightstar? Did you miss Daddy while he was at work?” they watched as Dick moved the blur of curly black hair, revealing a little girl with bright emerald eyes, the same one that was on his phone. 

“Yep! Mommy and Papa had to go meet Auntie Rachel. They said they’ll be back tomorrow” Mar’i told her dad with a smile on her face. She looked to see the group of teenagers with a questioning look on her face “Daddy, who are these people?”

“Well little nightstar, these are important people to your auntie Cass and uncle Timmy. Why don’t you say hi?”

Mar’i looked at her dad before giving a determined nod. She marched with conviction, making them aww at the little girl, before stopping before them.

“Hi, I’m Mar’i Grayson! Are you my aunt Cass and uncle Timmy’s soulmates?”

Marinette was the first to respond, crouching down to Mar’i’s level with a warm smile. “Aren’t you a cleaver ladybug? My name is Marinette”. Mar’i reached to give a polite handshake, like her family told her to do when meeting new people (though uncle Dami and uncle Jay didn’t always do it) when she felt something warm on her back. She was rather young the last time she felt something like that, having been an infant, and was confused as to what it meant.

“And I think you’re our soulmate as well” she looked up so see Marinette give her a welcoming look, she also saw the crowd of kids with excited smiles. Marinette also looked back to see and got exasperated look in her eyes, though Mar’i remembered her daddy doing that whenever his uncles would start fighting. “I think they want to give you a group hug”

Mar’i _ did _like her hugs.

The teens were unprepared for the impact Mar’i would make, all going down in one by “oof”. Fortunately none of them were hurt, but they realized that she was definitely strong. The warmth and faint lights had quickly faded as usual and they now found themselves smushed with a little girl on top of them

“Sorry about that,” Tim said as he, Cass, and Dick helped getting them up, “She doesn’t know her own strength” 

“No worries dude”

“Yeah we’ve dealt with worse”

“It’s not the first time we’ve fallen like this”

The group headed into the manor, Marinette, Nathaniel and Marc trying to soak up the gothic victorian aesthetic of the place; each of them gaining inspiration for their mediums. The group was told that snack would be given out soon and were situated in the living room.

“So Mar’i’s also part of your Destined group huh? Do you guys have any idea what it’ll mean” Dick now asked as a curious (and overprotective) father. He knew that all his destined groups had to do with his _ Night _life and part of him wishes that Mar’i isn’t the same; even though she was already born into it.

“Um no not really…” Marinette stammered, looking flustered. He thought it was a bit suspicious but then again it could be a rough spot if they still don’t know what it is they’ll do together (considering their different interests it seems their bonds may be unrelated to them).

“Whatever we do might not be till later in life anyway” Tim shrugged, he noticed some of them relax at his reasoning. Did they really feel so self-conscious about it?

“We’ll be the bestest greatest Destined group daddy! Even better than _ grandad’s _” Mar’i declared with a cheer, quickly lightening up the room.

“Really Mar’i? What does your _ grand père _ do?” Marc asked but before she could respond Dick picked her up.

“Grandad Bruce works on humanitarian causes along with his Destined” Tim responded for the little girl.

“Work with charities, do fundraisers, help those that need it; that sort of stuff” Cass continued on.

“What’s a grand pear?” 

The teenagers laughed, though quickly composing themselves (Kim getting elbowed by Alix) “Grand _ père _means grandfather” Marc clarified

“That’s a weird way of saying it” the girl declared

“That’s because it’s another language honey” Dick combed his fingers through his daughter’s long hair, it was pretty tangled. “Like how I’ve been teaching you Romani or your uncle Dami speaks Arabic”

“Ohhhh. So what are they speaking?”

“We’re from Paris so we speak French” Marinette spoke up, opening her purse and taking out a comb along with some ribbons. The group gave her questioning looks as the girl shrugged.

“I’m always getting into messes so I carry it to fix my hair”

There was a silent question as Dick got up from his seat and let Marinette take over. She slowly began to comb out the knots in Mar’i’s hair as the other continued to talk.

“So how have you guys enjoyed Gotham so far?”

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“Oh what a wondrous occasion!”

The former Teen Titans, now either in the Justice League or mentoring the new ones as Titans, turned to Kori who was gushing at her phone. There had been an incident regarding an old foe of theirs, Killer Moth and Kitty. Luckily with Starfire and Flash on the scene everything was resolved much more quickly than estimated.

(Starfire took satisfaction in punching Kitty and scorching her hair but that was neither here nor there)

They were all just lounging around the living room; Rachel was meditating, Victor and Garfield were playing videogames on the main screen (like they always did). The current Teen Titans were at school, as was mandatory, and weren’t expected back until a few hours.

The original Teen Titans was formed 15 years ago, the team started small, consisting of hero “sidekicks”, though Robin used the term partners; they knew they were soulmates and weren’t surprised when they found out that it was for this.

The founding members were Dick/Robin, Wally/Kid Flash, Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad, and Conner/Superboy whose first mission was saving Conner from Cadmus; soon they were joined by M’gann/Miss Martian, Artemis, Zatanna and Donna/Wondergirl.

The second generation of Teen Titans arrived soon after, after two years of the original team forming the twins Mas and Menos/Hector and Miguel, Karen/Bumblebee, Herald/Guardian, Barbara/Batgirl, Garth/Tempest, Roy/Red Arrow, Victor/Cyborg, Koriand’r/Starfire, Garfield/Beast Boy, and Rachel/Raven.

For a while Dick had diverted from the original team, spending his time with Kori, Victor, Garfield and Rachel; solidified by the fact that he discovered Kori being his romantic soulmate. He went back to working between the teams once his younger brother, Jason, took the mantle of Robin and joined the team.

Wally didn’t really like thinking of the time; <strike>it was his fault Dick had distanced himself from the team </strike> <strike> because he was an idiot that kept trying to deny the facts and he _ hurt _ Dick in the process </strike>. He considered himself lucky when Dick forgave him; though his current life was a miracle.

  
  


“What’s up Kori?” Wally looked over to see what his wife was talking about when he did a double take. Dick had sent them a photo of Mar’i in a low back dress, eight new marks that were not there when they left now resided there adding to the three she already had;one was a black cat, the other a purple butterfly and then a dark indigo ox. The next was a photo of a group of teenagers along with Tim and Cass. The only one of the splotches that was fully developed was that of a ladybug, next to the black cat.

The next image made Wally awe, Mar’i’s untamable hair was made into two buns accompanied with pink ribbons. One of the girls from the group, a girl with black hair that looked more blue, had a messy version of the style while Mar’i gave a pleased smile. Dick sent them a caption to go along with it;

** _‘They’re part of a Destined group!’_ **

  
  


“We missed Mar’i meeting her soulmates?!”

  
  


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“What do you mean there are heroes in Paris?”

The group had enjoyed the snacks Alfred had prepared for them, Marc and Nathaniel volunteering to help him with the dishes. They ended up talking about superheroes, of all things, and were talking about the Parisian heroes.

“Yes? The Eiffel tower is practically destroyed every week” Alix looked confused at the others, they seemed rather shocked at the revelation.

“What?!”

“We’ve never heard of that”

“That sounds bad”

“That’s weird. It’s always covered by the news” Max told himself, though it was still audible.

“Then again Ladybug fixes everything after” Kim shrugged; only Marc noticed the surprised look on Alfred’s face.

“Ladybug? Is she tiny?” Mar’i asked curiously, maybe she was like Aunt Bee. The others, her soulmates(!), chuckled before the boy with the red cap, Nino responded.

“Well she’s shorter than most of the other heroes but I don’t think she’s that small”

“Do you mean Ladybug, as in the Ladybug Miraculous?” the group turned to Alfred, not expecting the man to speak about the heroes with them.

“Yeah, I thought you guys said you hadn’t heard of them?” Marc asked the older man, he seemed…. Unnerved.

“I haven’t but I do remember tales of the hero when I was younger” Nathaniel couldn’t help but think that it was a half-truth, he hadn’t outright lied but he also did not tell the whole truth. Nathaniel noticed how he’d been able to detect these sort of things the more time he got to spend as Roter Fuchs. He had asked Ladybug about it but she said that it meant that he was the true Fox spirit and was gaining more skills from Trixx.

“Hawkmoth keeps turning people into Akumas, using their negative emotions, so he can get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous” Marc explained though he and the others noticed the confusion on their faces while he talked.

“Akuma are these possesed butterflies; if it touches an item you’re holding then Hawkmoth can posses you. Once he does that he tempts you with powers to do whatever you wish, in return for bringing him the miraculous” Marinette clarified.

“So have you guys…?” Dick and Alfred gave Tim a look, he was trying to get this information out of them but he realized, belatedly, that it may be insensitive.

“Been Akumatized? Everyone is our class but Marinette and Adrien have” Max said sullenly.

“We kinda don’t talk about it, it weird ya know? It’s us but it's not really” Alix tried, she didn’t even remember much about being Timeturner (and she kinda feels dumb for why she got mad, though Marinette had reassured that it was understandable to be mad after breaking a family heirloom).

“It seems dumb afterward, like why were we so mad for such a small thing” Nino shrugged, the others noticed how most of the kids started to curl in on themselves, as though they were trying to protect themselves.

“Hey now, its not dumb to feel emotion” Dick had moved closer to them, kneeling in front of them with sympathy.

“I struggled with that too” Cass said, a small smile on her face “I get it”

“I lost a video game tournament” 

“My best friend’s dad was being an ass”

“These idiots broke a family heirloom”

“I thought my crush purposefully made fun of me” 

“I got akumatized because a girl rejected me” 

“I did cause that same girl mocked me and exposed my crush in class” Nathaniel’s cheeks gained a light pink shade.

“O-oh, so I guess he really uses any emotion” Tim was dumbfounded, they never heard of a villain who could manipulate people’s emotions and convert them to be his minions; from a possessed butterfly no less! Perhaps Zatanna or Doctor Fate, maybe even John Constantine, would know what it was about.

“That girl sounds like a problem if she’s caused these emotions” Dick expressed in concern while the group had a mix of fond smiles and sarcastic laughs.

“Chloe used to be problematic but that was the old her; she’s changed for the better and is a good person” Marc popped up, defending his redeemed soulmate.

“Lie-la on the other hand” Nathaniel rolled his eyes. She kept lying about _ his _miraculous, she continued to do so even after Roter Fochs made his debut, honestly he’s surprised she didn’t just claim that she cast an illusion over herself so no one would suspect it was her.

“She can’t stop yapping about the _ great _things she’s done” Alix fumed “Or the famous people she knows”

The Gothamites did not realize the beast they unleashed within the Parisians.

  
  


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“I mean red, yellow and green? Who decided to let a child decide the colors of his costume like that?”

They had gotten the group to stop ranting about Lila, only by getting Marinette worked up out the American heroes and vigilantes; her current target was Robin.

Cass and Mar’i were having a good time as the two Batboys looked offended, mostly Dick seeing as he was the “child” Marinette was talking about.

“Yeah and what’s up with people complaining about Wonder Woman” Alix and Kim seemed the most passionate about her “She can kick butt with a skirt or pants”

Tim thinks they’d get along with Jason.

“Well from what you’ve shown the hero team in Paris isn’t as impressive in regard to their costume” Tim chastised, his pride was on the line after Marinette had fired against Red Robin’s name and cape.

“It’s magic genius” Alix rolled her eyes

“Yeah, maybe they can’t change it” Nathaniel reasoned. It was something he had discussed with Ladybug before, he was uncomfortable with the fact that his costume was so… skintight. Though it left a lot less to imagination compared to the ladies. She had just said that she herself was unsure and that she would try asking the master to see if he had a solution. Apparently there was nothing in the Miracle book about it.

“Ugh magic” Tim was a man of science damn it! Though he spent a lot of time with people whose whole life was dedicated to the practice. Though he was now interested in contacting the Parisian heroes; three years on their own battling a terrorist who uses fear, with no one in the hero community realizing, it seemed like too much for a bunch of teenagers.

“At least they’re not like Superman, really underwear on the outside?” Marc sassed causing the group to laugh.

“Is uncle Dami almost home?” Mar’i was excited. According to uncle Timmy, the smartest of her uncles, uncle Dami was also soulmates with her soulmates! She wanted to see what would happen with a group hug.

“What about me?” the teens hadn’t even heard him come in and he wasn’t alone. The two teenage boys looked like they were the same age, though one was taller than the other. One of them had a raised eyebrow, uncle Dami, he had tan skin with an undercut for his hairstyle, his deep emerald eyes were calculating and analyzing the strangers in his house; he had an uncanny resemblance to the Bruce Wayne portraits from when he was a child. Clearly this was Damien Wayne.

The boy next to him was a complete stranger to them, jet black hair with waves, some of the strands falling to his face, his skin was fair, much like Marinette’s, and his eyes were soft baby blue, though they were obscured by the black framed glasses he wore. Both boys didn’t look so intimidating at first glance but years of being Ladybug and observing them closely made Marinette focus in on the hints of their toned bodies, hidden by a school uniform.

“Why did you guys rush of! That was ridiculous, totally re𑁋!”

“Chloe!?”

⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

Lila was not having a good time.

First, _ Marinette’s _swarm of buddies, the ones she failed to get completely on her side, had told their teacher about having left her behind. Luckily, Bustier was too anxious at not arriving to Wayne Tower in time and didn’t pay attention.

She had thought that the tour guide was good looking, and she wasn’t the only one in the class to notice, until he had to open his mouth.

“I’m sorry Ms.Bustier but it seems like you’re missing a student. One Ms.Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the class representative?”

Lila rolled her eyes as Bustier frantically called the hotel, she seemed so concerned about Marinette and only paled when she ended the call. 

“T-They said she’s already left the hotel, half an hour ago”

Richard gave her a blank look, getting on his phone and calling someone, probably his boss if Lila had to guess. She could hear Alix start to stomp her way towards her; time to start the show.

“Oh my god, how could Marinette do this! Doesn’t she know how dangerous it is in Gotham?” she blinked to force the tears out of her eyes, she knew her makeup was waterproof. Soon she has Rose and Mylene soothing her and Alya cursing out Marinette for being _ so selfish _. Se even had Adrien looking annoyed at Maritrash.

Everything was going according to plan.

“I am so sorry for the inconvenience” Lila heard Bustier apologize to the tour guide, but he gave her a strange look “This so unlike her, Marinette is more responsible than this…”

She continued the waterworks, not paying attention to the hard look he gave the teacher or to the group of friends trying to reach Marinette. As long as the attention was on her then she was satisfied (it was just a lame tour after all, the real treat was the gala at the end, where she’d be able to swindle and sway a bunch of rich teens). 

Her thoughts were shattered when she heard Alix’s cry.

Maritrash came running in, hand in hand with a handsome man, much to Lila’s frustration.

“Marinette, how could you? We were so worried!” she felt her temper rise as she and her followers cries were ignored by the girl. She completely ran passed them and went to her group of friends. 

Lila was not going to stand for this.

  
  


During the tour Lila kept waiting for the opportunity to strike back at Marinette, but found the girl surrounded by guard dogs, including the good looking boy from earlier (she tried introducing himself but he just said his name was Tim and put his attention back to the guard dogs.)

Some of the others started to notice the attention Marinette was getting.

“Oh do you think he’s Marinette’s soulmate! That would be so romantic” Rose’s high pitched voice fantasized.

“Of course not! Don’t you remember Marinette doesn’t have any soulmates, right Lila?” Alya looked at her, along with everyone else at their table.

Lila would have preferred if it was everyone in the class but she’d get there eventually. It’s only been a year after all, though already being one of her more difficult cases.

“It’s true. I mean why else would she hate us, just because she was unfortunate enough to not have anyone else in her life” she maintained the heartbroken and hurt look on her face as the girls consoled her, she noticed Ivan and Juleka looking questioningly at her; if they stepped out of place then she’d ruin their life, just like she was doing to Marinette.

The rest of lunch went by, she began talking about fantastical adventures she had all over the world, the galas she’d exclusively gone to, and even the charities she helped fund. 

Of course these were all lies.

Not that anyone bothered to point them out before.

Her story was interrupted by the laughs at Mariwhore’s table.

Well, this won’t do.

“I’m gonna take out the trash”

She made her way, opposite of where the trash cans were located,despite the fact that she still had food on her plate and walked towards Marinette, just as the girl looked like she was about to say something to the others Lila let go of her tray. She had even made sure the whole thing would fall on her head, ensuring the food would fall all over her as well.

“Oops, sorry Marinette. You know I can’t help it with my arthritis”

Lila was surprised when Alix tried jumping at her, but that only made Lila’s cries more convincing. Just as she was going to begin hiccuping her followers came to her aid. Alya was the first to step up for her, startling everyone when she decided to slam her hands onto the table. By the way she was glaring at Tim, Lila could only guess he was trying to defend Maritrash.

He wasn’t that cute.

“What did you say!?”

Alya was easy to get on her side, it just took some sweet words and using Marinette’s flakiness to her advantage. She proved to have the most ammo and temper against the trash.

Lila thought she had nothing to worry about with Tim, he looked startled enough by Alya’s yell; she was mistaken.

“I said it was half-assed._ Or do I need to say it in another language for you _”

Well apparently he knew French as well.

“You’re the worst Dupain-Cheng. Oh Lila, you got tomato sauce on your jacket, let me take that!” Sabrina, her little assistant came in and swept Lila away from the group. The little bottle had nothing but some candies that looked like pills, not that they needed to know.

“I have your medicine in my purse”

“T-Thanks Sabrina, I don’t know what I would do without you two”

“Look at what you did Marinette. You have to apologize to Lila, it wasn’t her fault” the Italian girl couldn’t help her smirk, she and Gabriel had finally gotten Adrien to turn on his “friend”; now if he would only realize that he was meant for her.

Suddenly everyone was fighting one another. It would have been a perfect opportunity for Hawkmoth to attack, however he wasn’t in Gotham.

Lila would just have to replicate the occasion.

She just sat back and watched the chaos unravel, not paying any particular attention, and snuggled against Adrien. Madame Bustier had even come to check on Lila, asking how her arthritis was.

She watched as the girl’s eyes began to water, panic setting in.

She had warned her.

A loud whistle had gotten their attention, suddenly Richard the tour guide pipped up;  
“Madame Bustier are you not going to do anything about this situation?” 

“O-of course! Marinette you know better than to cause a commotion; what would Mr. Wayne say about this sort of behavior coming from the class President”

Oh this was perfect.

“You’re wrong”

And suddenly a new person had come to burst Lila’s bubble.  
Next thing they knew Lila and her followers were forced to go back to the hotel for the rest of the day while Marislut’s group got to continue their tour of Wayne Tower..

“I can’t believe they said the whole thing was our fault!” Alya yelled out while they got back in their hotel room. “When I get my hands on that girl she’s going to pay!”

_ And there would be hell to pay if Lila had anything to say. _

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Chloe came into the room with a surprised look on her face. She still wore a yellow cardigan with her outfit but it seemed like she too had a uniform on; a navy blue plaid skirt with a white dress shirt, going by the tall boy next to her she didn’t bother wearing the navy blue sweater vest. Chloe still kept her hair in a ponytail, though instead of sunglasses she now had a small gold clip on her ponytail.

“Chlo!”

Next thing she knew Marinette and Alix had jumped onto her, a bone crushing hug was a result. She hadn’t thought she would get to see her soulmates until next Monday, where the class would spend two weeks at Gotham Academy.

“Alright, alright!” she pushed the girls off and realized that everyone but Luka and Kagami were there “I get that you missed me but I need to breathe”

“You know them Chloe?” the focus turned to the boy with glasses.

“Uncle Jonny, they’re my soulmates!” Mar’i jumped in place before leaping into “Johnny”’s arms, it was as though she had flown for some of the way.

“Really! That’s great Mar’i”

“Yeah and they’re also uncle Dami’s soulmates! And aunt Cass and uncle Timmy’s!”

Damian was surprised, all these people being his soulmates? It seemed so far fetched. But this was also coming from a boy who was brought back from the dead and was in a family of vigilantes.

“Hi, I’m Jonathan Kent, most people just call me Jon” the boy looked at them, a smile as bright as the sun. The boy went around shaking their hands vigorously, an unexpected strength coming from it.

They were starting to believe it was an American thing.

“You must be _ Damibear _” Alix laughed, Damian looking highly offended. Jon tried stifling his laugh but even Cass had let out a giggle.

“My name is _ Damian _” the green eyed boy glared “Where did you even hear that name?”

“Lila” the group responded as though that solved everything. By the look of his family members it did (He’ll just ask Grayson later).

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“Do we know the names of these heroes?” 

Diana and Bruce were on a call with Clark, who was currently in Paris. He and Lois had managed to make contact with a Parisian newscaster, Nadia Chamack, an old friend of Lois. After catching up with each other Nadia seemed confused, how could they not know the Parisian heroes? They were loved here like Superman was loved in America!

“Well the first two heroes to arrive are Ladybug and Chat Noir, though according to Nadia he’s been making fewer public appearances” Clark was concerned when he heard of this, according to the reporter they emerged three years ago and mostly worked on their own at the beginning.

“Ladybug and Black Cat? A bit literal with their costumes” Bruce hummed as he looked over the photos, they lasted about 30 seconds before erasing themselves from his and Diana’s screen.

“.... Did you say Ladybug? Did she mention anything about the Miraculous?”

“Uh yes. She mentioned that it’s what the villains are searching for, it's what gives them their powers”

“By the Gods, we’ve been ignoring the Ladybug’s need for help!” Diana looked troubled, mumbling things to herself in ancient Greek.

“Do you recognize anything he just said?” Bruce looked at her, the detective in her demanding answers. She nodded before facing Bruce.

“My mother once wielded the power of the Ladybug Miraculous, it grants whoever wields them powers from the goddess of creation. They are very ancient and powerful artifacts, they’re supposed to be protected by Guardians who dedicate their lives to them.

“If they’re back in circulation then it must mean that there is something wrong going on”

“I figured as much. She said there are two main villains that can create minions to follow their wills; Hawkmoth and Mayura. Only Ladybug can purify the butterflies and feathers”

“... Clark you are not allowed to let your emotions get the best of you while in Paris; come back home as soon as you can”

  
  


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“So how should we do this?” Damian asked (after getting all their names) and was unsure of what the procedure with meeting multiple soulmates at once would be. He didn’t think there was any, at least none like this.

He was always awkward when it came to soulmates. The League thought they were a nuisance; his Grandfather thought they were a weakness, nothing more than a burden.

If he had remained with the League then on his fifteenth birthday, he would have to perform a ritual. One that would sever the bonds between soulmates. If you had already met a soulmate beforehand then there were two options;

Have them join and prove their loyalty to the League,

Or kill them yourself.

When he first made contact, real flesh contact outside of the capes, with Grayson he realized that it may not be such a bad thing to have a soulmate.

When he first held his niece, barely a year later, and felt the warmth of the soulbond looking into her bright parakeet eyes he realized he never wanted to destroy the bond, nevermind her.

He had convinced himself that no one deserved him as a soulmate, but really, he realized years later, he thought no one should be cursed with him as one.

“Hug! Hug!” Mar’i started chanting, before long Kim Alix and, surprisingly, Nathaniel joined in. Damian had a feeling that he should be scared.

Not a second later the whole group had dog piled onto Damian, all with mischievous smiles. 

Suddenly a bright light engulfed the center of the group.

They pulled away, shocked once the light disappeared.

Kim, Alix and Nino had confused looks on their faces, along with everyone in their group, but they looked at their everyday Ladybug with concern.

Marinette looked at Damian in the eyes, she not only felt a mark on her back but over her heart as well. 

She hadn’t felt something like this before.

The last time she felt simultaneous sensation on both areas was six years ago. It was her most painful memory.

She felt her eyes water once again for that day, disbelief in them. Only four words falling from her mouth as the tears fell down;

_ “You should be dead” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I made Damian and Jon the same age.  
A lot of the MariDami soulmate stories don't really go over the consequences of Damian dying so here we are.
> 
> Should Alix/Cass be a ship in this story?


	3. Tale of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which they cry and laugh while others scheme... Not all for good.

Marinette had barely been ten when it happened.

It had been a normal enough morning; she was running late to school, nothing unusual, and had made it to class on time.

Normally she and Alix would share a desk but today she saw her soulmates, including Chloe, huddled to her phone.

“Hey Neti, have you seen the news from Gotham?” Marinette was curious, it had to be big for them to be willing to be so close to one another.

_ It was carnage. _

** _Absolute madness._ **

Apparently the children of Gotham had risen from the night and began chanting “Leviathan Rises”. They attacked the local heroes and the police force, leaving them at a stalemate since the authorities didn’t want to harm them.

Gotham City was ablaze in the middle of the night.

“By God…” they looked in awe as the Gotham vigilantes did their best, Wayne Tower being destroyed by those same children.

Their teacher had come in sometime after but even she was awestruck by the absolute chaos. Marinette felt dread, she was not sure why; perhaps for the people of Gotham, the vigilantes, or it was something more?

Suddenly she felt something pierce her heart.

Like the startled end of a melody;

A harsh cold wind engulfing her.

Marinette hadn’t noticed the startled looks from her classmates or from the teacher.

She hadn’t even realized that she was not the only one to scream.

She was just the loudest.

The teacher quickly asked some of the other students, people who Marinette couldn’t remember the names of if you asked her today, to get the nurse.

She was heartbroken when she noticed the faint light coming from Marinette’s chest; she already knew that the young girl had lost her soulmate and could assume that the other children had as well.

They were immediately taken to the principal’s office to wait for their parents.

The group of six huddled together, as if they were afraid that the others would go next; the usual lively group lost their spark in those moments.

It was a dark day for them.

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Bruce Wayne was a man who prided himself in always being prepared;

Nothing could prepare him for today.

  
  


He and Diana had come back home after calling Clark from the Watchtower, both talking about what the possibilities of these powers amuck could mean if Hawkmoth or Mayura decided to spread wider than just Paris. They were first surprised to see that they already had guests, though Bruce remembered Dick sending him a text he had yet to see, a group of teenagers.

He recognized the girl with messy buns as class president for the Parisian class he had invited over.

Then he noticed the tears.

“H-How are you here? I remember feeling the worst pain ever imagined… you shouldn’t be here” the girl’s words were but a whisper but Bruce heard those words loud and clear, like cold water splashing onto him as he remembered the death of his youngest; the girl must be his soulmate.

“Neti…” one of the girls, a petite girl with pink hair went to hug her along with Chloe, Damian’s friend (one of the few) from Gotham Academy. 

“Are you alright miss?” 

Diana spoke up from beside him before she made her way to the girls, kneeling in front of the crying one. Bruce gave his sons a look, one that made it clear he wanted an explanation asap.

Tim and Damian gave conflicting looks, looking like they’d rather try consoling the girl but had no clue as to how while Dick sighed and made his way over.

“These kids are Tim, Cass, Mar’i and Dami’s soulmates; it seems like Marinette was really traumatized from the…  _ incident  _ with Damian and she’s in shock”

For however much prepared Bruce was, he wasn’t sure what to do.

When it came to Jason he was lucky that all his soulmates were part of the hero business in one way or the other; these were all Parisian  _ civilians _ .

  
  


“C’mon Neti, you have to breathe”

Bruce and Dick saw how the Parisians each gave good coping mechanisms to the girl, trying and succeeding to get her to calm down. The Waynes also noted how they seemed to be looking for  _ something _ , a sort of protective barrier around the bunned girl as she took steady breathes.

“Are you okay Marinette? Did uncle Dami make you cry?” his sweet little granddaughter walked over to Marinette and proceeded to hug her “I can beat him up if you want”

Marinette chuckled over this, patting Mar’i on the head as to not disturb her hair before taking a shaky breath, a sad smile on her face. 

“Thank you for the offer but I think I need to talk to your uncle Dami before we can consider it” she turned to face Diana, who was giving her a concerned look. Marinette was almost flustered by how beautiful she was but part of her felt like they had met before “Thank you for your concern, I’m sorry I made such a big deal about it”

“You reacted normally Marinette… I’ve felt the same as you have before, it is a difficult thing to overcome” Marinette wondered how exactly she had but that was something to consider later. She was going to apologize to the others when she froze looking at _ Bruce Wayne. Right. There. _

“M-Mr. Wayne!”

The teenagers also gave their own surprised looks as they turned to see the billionaire, probably having arrived during the whole mess.

“Please, Bruce is just fine. Are you alright Ms. Dupain-Cheng? I know this may be quite difficult to process” thankfully Brucie Wayne wasn’t as much of an asshole to ignore the feelings of a crying child in front of him. Then again, he was in the comforts of his own house so there was no real need for charades.

“O-Oh umm w-well I’m doing better now, sir! But you are right… It feels impossible”

“Why don’t we take this to the dining room, lunch is almost ready and it has the seats to accommodate for the group”

Alfred beckoned the room to follow him, some looking unsure while others just relented to the Englishman.

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“I can’t believe those idiots threw us out of Wayne Tower!” Alya yelled out as she threw a pillow across the hotel room; if they had been in Paris she would have been the perfect target for an Akuma.

“I’m so sorry Alya! I swear I’ll make sure to talk to Brucie so they can get punished for such behavior” Lila’s eyes were glossed over with unshed tears, an extra precaution in case they thought something was up with her stories.

“Don’t worry about it Lila, I bet they were new and didn’t know any better” Sabrina tried consoling her next. Her other two followers would have been here with her if it weren’t for their  _ soulmates _ .

Lila absolutely  _ despised  _ them.

“O-Oh Adrien I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to stop them” the French model had been dragged in by force, Lila having to dig her nails in when he tried going into his own room.

“Yeah whatever you say Lila” 

Adrien was ashamed that Marinette hadn’t decided to take the high road with him but he still didn’t like Lila all that much; though it wasn’t like he had many friends to go to especially because  _ his own soulmate _ didn’t want to be his friend anymore . Nino would come back, he told himself, he couldn’t just ignore his soulmates. It was practically impossible.

He just wished that his lady would reveal her identity already.

No matter how much he tried; begging, joking, pleading, flirting, insisting, anger, tantrums. No matter which method he took she would always say “No”. She just repeated what Plagg said; “Soulmates don’t work like that”

Once she did she’d finally be able to see that they were meant for each other.

The ying to his yang; his perfect partner; he didn’t care what Plagg said, he knew they could only be each others’ soulmates.

Soulmates.

How he wished to finally see their unique mark, maybe even , no  ** _especially _ ** the golden ring around it.

As long as he could be with his little lady then  _ nothing else mattered. _

** _He’d do anything to insure it._ **

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The group sat at the table awkwardly, even Mar’i wasn’t sure what to do (she was getting better at “reading the mood” according to uncle Jay)

“Alright I can’t stand this ridiculousness anymore!” Chloe was the first to break down, not slamming her hands on the tables (she still had some semblance of manners and control) no matter how much she wanted to. “I’m sorry if this is insensitive but what happened?”

“Um yeah what she said. We remember that day, we remember feeling the mark appeared but it disappeared completely after a few months” Kim was fidgety, not uncommon but a rare thing for him but he would usually distract himself with Max or use a squishy ball.

“It was hard for us but Neti wouldn’t talk to anyone for a whole month” Alix elaborated “But we were all confused when it just  _ disappeared _ ”

Dick and Tim wondered what it was that Damian or Bruce would say to explain the whole thing, they themselves had also felt it, the second time since Jason, albeit with their marks fading and then regaining color. It was bizarre and the only explanation people would usually come up with was that your soulmate was reincarnated; still shaky but it was the only way to explain it (It also proved to be true with every recorded case).

“We just want to know what happened, if it’s not too much to ask”

“...When Damian was ten he got mixed up in the Leviathan attack in Gotham almost six years ago; the children of Gotham had been controlled and turned into child soldiers, plunging Gotham into a battlefield. He hadn’t turned into one of the child soldiers but he was one of the many injured” the Bat Clan listened but Bruce, ready to ensure there were no misconsistances as the Parisians listened in, grateful to get the answer they’ve been waiting for nearly six years for.

“He… flatlined in the hospital” Bruce channeled in his grief from the incident, watching Damian with a pierced sword through his body;  all because of  _ Talia  _ he could hear soft gasps coming from the teenagers across from him “For a few minutes he was dead, it was a miracle that he managed to start up his heart again. Unfortunately, he remained in a comatose state for the next three months; we weren’t sure if he would ever wake up”

“It was a hard time for the family, I can’t imagine what it must have been for you when you were children” Diana conveyed an apology in her voice. Marc looked around at the Wayne family, truly look at their expressions and tics instead of just accepting everything at face value; he’d always been able to read people’s emotions, it was why he was nervous to interact with others, but it did lead to his praised writing (specifically for his realistic characters and development)

“No, no ...I mean  _ of course it was _ but we didn’t know him” the boy began shyly his face morphing into one of sympathy “But it must have been hard for you as his family, you all seem so tightly knit and the types to value family over everything”

Cass was impressed with how emotionally expressive and analytical Marc seemed to be, it reminded her of Dinah and Alfred in a sense. She hadn’t known what to expect when they realized that Damian had died before, even she had felt it that day and hadn’t known what to think when the mark regained its color a few months later; then again no one stays dead in their lifestyle.

“We’re not going to lie and say it was easy, but the family had already gone through Jason’s supposed death so we had experience in the matter” Dick decided to respond, being the best candidate to do so, “We just… Lingered on the hope that he could come back”

  
  


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Nino didn’t think the lunch would be enjoyable; after that heavy conversation it didn’t look like anyone was particularly hungry, except Mar’i it seemed. Still that didn’t mean they didn’t appreciate Alfred’s food, the man’s food rivaled that of the Dupain-Chengs. It had taken a while before anyone spoke again, again with Mar’i being the icebreaker.

“Daddy says there’s a carnival coming to town! Are you guys going?”

The Parisians looked at Marinette in anticipation, seeing as she was the one to come up with the schedule for their trip (Kim and Alix giving her puppy eyes). She rolled her eyes at them before nodding.

“Yes, I arranged for our class to get dropped off on Saturday morning”

“Daddy, daddy! Can we go on Saturday too!” Mar’i began jumping up and down in her seat, though they thoughts she stayed airborne a few moments too long “ _ Pleaassseeee _ ”

“Sure why not?” Dick was grateful for his little angel’s distraction, it would hopefully get the dreary tension away, she was just as charming as her parents after all. “Besides it’d be a nice bonding experience for you guys as soulmates”

And with that the tension was lost… or at least was ignored for now.

  
  


After thanking Alfred for the meal, Bruce decided to have his children show the Parisians around the manor before it was time for them to leave, Diana having to leave for work and already bid her goodbyes. 

“I would offer to help tour you around but I have some W.E paperwork that needs to be done in my office, it was a pleasure meeting you all” one by one the Parisians shook his hand, each with awe on their faces, it didn’t matter that he was their soulmates’ father/grandfather; he was  _ the Bruce Wayne. _

Marinette realized that there was something…  _ off  _ about the Wayne Manor. She noticed after she met Damian but couldn’t figure out what it was, she decided to excuse herself to the bathroom, still avoiding eye contact with Damian, once inside she let out a sigh and looked at Tikki.

“Oh Tikki why do these things have to be so…  _ complicated _ ” the miniature god patted her head, never have experienced this with any of her Ladybugs so she did her best to comfort the girl.

“I don’t know Marinette; what I do know is that you’re my strongest Ladybug and you’ll get through this” sometimes Marinette questioned what she would do without the goddess, what she would do without Ladybug, but there was no reason to think of such things. “Though the energy around this place is concerning; its full of misfortune, almost like a curse or residue corrupted magic”

“Is that why I’ve been feeling off? What about Damian, it seems to be clinging onto him and his father more so than the others” she wondered if it was perhaps a curse on the family, it would make sense why Damian and Bruce had the most of it, or if it was something else. She knew Gotham felt, well for lack of a better word, dirty; not having anything to do with the pollution surrounding it. Maybe Plagg was involved.

“I think it may be residue corrupted magic but I can feel someone else here has a bigger concentration than those two, its trail is still strong even if they’re not present; you might be overwhelmed if you run into the source”

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Plagg didn’t know what to do.

He really wanted to talk to his sugarcube but she and the Guardian weren’t at the hotel at the moment, not to mention his tormentor was still up and it’d be hard to leave without him noticing eventually.

“Why can’t you tell me who she is!?” and there he went.

Adrien had continued to bother him, demanding he state who Ladybug was; he was slowly realizing that he could give commands to Plagg and the kwami wouldn’t be able to ignore them. He counted himself lucky that there was a curse in place so they themselves couldn’t say anything. Plagg wished he hadn’t teased Adrien or Marinette by fake revealing them, not that it would have happened, as it was now their saving grace.

Plagg and Tikki, along with the other kwami, Kagami, Luka and Marinette, had discussed taking the Miraculous from Adrien ever since it became apparent that he was no longer the cat he once was; he became entitled, temperamental, apathetic, possessive and cruel. Adrien no longer cared the cost that came to others as long as he got what he wanted.

“I told you Adrien that Kwamis can’t reveal these things just like I told you that Ladybug isn’t your soulmate” Plagg hated being the rational one, he left that to his sugarcube.

“Ugh you’re useless” Adrien stomped out of the room, muttering that he was going to bother Ivan or something.

Plagg wondered if he had somehow caused this, was his bad luck the thing that drove Adrien to be like this? Perhaps because he wasn’t the True Black Cat, he had been the closest thing they had at the time, it should have been enough but it clearly wasn’t. Then there was also the corrupted magic he could feel within the Agreste Mansion, though he had believed it may have been from his mother’s death. 

Whatever was happening with Adrien he could only hope that once they took away the Miraculous that he would turn back to whatever normal was for him.

Just as Plagg was about to stuff his wallows with the very small amount, like enough for three recharges, of camembert that Adrien brought with him, he felt something resonate within him. The god of destruction looked out towards the window and down at the street; he spotted a built man, his most defining feature from above was the white tuft of hair he had at the front of his head; he was absolutely soaked in residue corrupted magic, something he decided to keep noted as it seemed vaguely familiar, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. The man was clearly close, whether emotionally or literally, to someone with a natural bond with misfortune, if it wasn’t for the corrupted magic the man would probably not experience much bad luck when in critical times.

This was his ticket!

A chance to find the true Black Cat if his instincts were right; which they always were. 

Should he take the chance? What would happen if Adrien came back?

_ Well, he was the cat kwami for a reason. _

  
  


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Jon was surprised by all the turn of events that happened in that afternoon, it was such a mixed bag and whirlwind but he wasn’t surprised since it was Damian’s soulmates. Then again he was one too but that's besides the point!

The group toured around Wayne Manor, something Jon never grew tired of and always felt like was never truly done doing. They had made it through the East wing and even passed the ballroom where the gala would be. 

Jon had to admit that the Destined group was interesting, their mixed personalities complementing each other instead of clashing with one another. Even his bond with the Teen Titans wasn’t this cohesive at times.

“So your mom is Lois Lane? Like the Pulitzer award winning Lois Lane?” Marc, as he learned was his name, looked in awe as Jon nodded equally enthusiastic; he knew his mom was great but it was always nice seeing other people acknowledge this.

“Yep! That’d be her” Jon laughed out, the Destined group had to admit that he had a charm to him that they couldn’t quite place; maybe it was his small town demeanor or overall sunshine child personality.

“Gods she’s like one of the best writers out there; especially all her pieces about superheroes and their role in society” Max nodded as they began talking about heroes again.

“... Nat?” Marc had stopped when he noticed that his boyfriend was standing in front of an old grandfather clock. Nathaniel’s eyes were staring intensely at it, like he was either taking it apart in his head or capturing every detail to draw later.

“There’s something up with this clock” the red haired boy seemed to be talking to himself more than his boyfriend, paying close attention to the hands of the clock, which he noticed no longer moved. The mansion residents had yet to notice that the two were no longer part of the group as the boy looked around before pulling out his phone and snapping a photo.

“There’s definitely some sort of illusion going on here, right?” 

“Nat! You can’t just go around and nosing in on other people’s business; especially since they’re our hosts and soulmates family “ Marc chastised his boyfriend, intending on pulling him back when they heard footsteps approaching. Marc made haste as he pulled them from the staircase and began to look for the group as the footsteps got closer;

He just really hoped that whoever it was hadn’t seen them.

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“Do you often speak to yourself in the bathroom?” Marinette had been so startled that she didn’t hesitate to throw Damian over her shoulder until it was too late.

“ _ Oh my god, _ I am so sorry!” Marinette quickly helped him up, inspecting him for any bruises or possible concussion.

“... You’re stronger than you look” Damian momentarily groaned, Marinette helping him up with a flustered expression.

“Sorry! You startled me and I acted without thinking” she avoided his eyes again, trying to suppress the dizziness that came from the corruption in his person.

“You never answered my question; do you often talk to yourself?”

“Umm well I- I was just nervous y’know… After all I freaked out on you and your family and well-” Damian was silently berating himself, of course the girl, his soulmate, would be nervous being alone with him.

“... It’s alright” he awkwardly patted her, he wasn’t sure of what the procedure was with this sort of thing “I know it must be hard to believe that I’m alive” 

The two stood outside of the bathroom in an awkward silence, both hoping someone would do something about it. Marinette finally looked up, making eye contact with Damian for the first time before laughing;

“We’re pretty bad at this, don’t you think?”

Damian refused to admit that her laughs were some of the most captivating sounds he had ever heard, he most certainly was not blushing at her smile nor did he think her eyes were some of the most beautiful he had ever seen.

He  _ refused _ .

“Right. Why don’t we just start over?”

“Alright. Bonjour my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, your soulmate”

“Hello Marinette, I am Damian Wayne, your soulmate”

Marinette would admit that the small but sincere smile made him incredibly charming, his emerald eyes looking like he hid his secrets well, a mystery she wanted to uncover, for someone who seemed so cold he was very welcoming.

“W-Where’s the rest of the group anyway?” Marinette could feel the warmth on her cheeks, he was just as muscular as she suspected.

“Probably still touring the mansion” Damian shrugged “They’re most likely not even half-way done”

“That big?”

“One could get lost if they didn’t know better”

“Well it’s good you found me or else I’d be wandering forever”

“Allow me to escort you to the rest of the group” 

Damian wasn’t sure where his sudden flirting came from, he’d blame the lessons Grayson and his father gave him on “being charming” when he turned fifteen; the age where all the rich folk began to shove the daughters,some even their sons, at his face. He remembers each one who had hopes that their child would be his soulmate to no avail. If it weren’t for the fact that soulmarks were a two-way thing he wouldn’t be surprised if a handful would force tattoos on them.

They walked in a peaceful quiet, though from the corner of his eye he could still see Marinette fidget every now and then. They’d stop at times as Marinette would stare at family portraits or architecture from the old manor. He had learned that she along with Nathaniel had an affinity for the arts, something he thought he should discuss with them further as a mutual hobby or appreciation.

“And this is the ballroom” he explained, pushing open the heavy doors. Even with the lights off, they could still see just how grand it was at the top of the staircase. He turned as he heard her gasp in surprise and awe, taking out her phone to snap quick photos along with a small notebook from her purse.

“It’s like a fairytale” he had a feeling she hadn’t meant to say that out loud but hummed in response.

“I suppose it is; I often just get reminded of all the boring galas we host here”

“Being in the spotlight around so many people must be hard; I could never do something like that” he could already tell that although she had strong leadership skills, most likely being the head of whatever it was that they’d end up doing as a Destined group, she lacked confidence.

“It’s not as hard as it seems, it’s mostly a test of your patience” he rolled his eyes, remembering the amount of times his brothers ended up ditching him in these events while he was forced to endure it longer as the snakes wanted “better relations with the legitimate son”. Really he felt like it was some sort of karmic justice from when he tried killing his brothers for that same reason.

“Dancing in front of all those people? A disaster like me might end up tripping everyone in some weird domino effect” Marinette scoffed as Damian felt himself holding back the slight chuckle he got from envisioning that. Was it so weird that he got so comfortable with her so quickly? It had never happened with any one of his previous soulmates; Mar’i and Alfred were close but they were still outliers.

“I doubt you’re so bad”

“No no I really am. Has Chloe not told you anything about it?”

“She’s only sung praises of you, how you’re practically an everyday hero” the flush on her face suited her, he decided, as it made her freckles stand out further.

“Really? I heard from her that everyone called you the Ice Prince but had a heart of gold” she thought the flush brought out his emerald eyes.

“Is that so? Can’t say I blame them” Damian shrugged, not finding a need to lie about something he very well knew was true “I’m not exactly a good person”

As he said that he turned to see, curious and somewhat intimidated by what it was that his soulmate would think, only to see that she was missing.

  
  


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Jason shook his head, shaking out the helmet hair as he walked up the steps of Wayne Manor. Something had been bothering him ever since he was in the city, he wasn’t sure what but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d felt like that. It was part of the reason why he and Roy never made anything official when they found out they were romantic soulmates; that and Lian would always be Roy’s top priority first and foremost and wanted Jason to make sure he was completely immersed in the idea of them being together. 

It just made Jason more guilt ridden and fall deeper for the ginger.

An unfamiliar voice greeted him as he opened the manor doors, the giggling of a girl followed by Krypto and Titus’ barks beyond them.

Blue eyes and dark hair were the first things he noticed from the girl.

“Seriously?” Jason found himself groaning, startling the girl from being smothered by the two dogs, which both could actually do if they wanted.

“I leave for a week and Bruce already got a new ward”

“Uh what?” Marinette elequotely responded, mostly taken aback by the aura surrounding him, he must be the person the corrupted magic clinged onto the most.

“So what’s your tragic backstory?”

“My what?”

“Black hair, blue eyes and tragic backstory; that’s how Bruce chooses us”

“I - I guess my soulmate dying is my tragic backstory?” she stumbled, there was no way in Kwami she was telling a stranger about her bullying or being a hero. Damn she really did have a tragic backstory…

“Oh shit. Sorry for bringing that up”

“It’s fine; I mean my soulmate’s alive now so I guess it turned out fine” Jason could feel his eyes widen, before being able to stop himself. Had it been anyone else he would have called bullshit but the look in her eyes, the sincere dread and pain clearly there as she told him, made him believe it was true.

“Alive again? That’s pretty impressive” well when he did it it was but now it seemed like everyone was doing it.

“Who’s the lucky𑁋”

“Marinette!” they turned to see Damian looking around, jogging from the left wing, there wasn’t much there since it was mostly for parties and other events.

“Damian! I’m sorry I wandered off but” the girl, Marinette, just smushed her face against the dogs and kept calling them good babies.

How the Hades was this girl demon spawn’s soulmate? The girl was so tiny and pixie-like, a strong wind could probably knock her over; her top looked like it was made using magic with the way it flowed easily and had a slight shimmer reaching her upper thigh over her soft baby pink jeans, it almost looked white it you glanced quickly. Even the evening sunlight was hitting her  _ just right _ , which how in the fuck?, making her practically look like an𑁋

“ _ Angel _ ”

Oh Jason was totally telling the others about this.

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“So umm do you want to talk about it?” Alix, for the first time in her life, found herself unsure. She usually headed head-first into any problem or situation she was in, making her a bit of a hot head, but she could now say she relates to Marinette more than ever.

“Talk?”

Cassandra Cain was prettier than she had any right to be, Alix decided then and there. The older Asian girl cocked an eyebrow, an effortless beauty she added to her previous thought.

You see earlier that day when they had hugged with Marinette, Alix had felt two sensations, one on her back where the rest of her Destined soulmarks were, one she was beginning to suspect the reason behind, and one on her right upper arm.

She knew it wasn’t for Marinette.

There was a lot going on so she hadn’t known how to address Cass on it. The boys had ended up in the game room and started an impromptu video game tournament, though Marinette could probably kick their asses on but seeing as she wasn’t here at the moment they decided to just do it for fun. As much as Alix wanted to join or at least make fun of them, she had asked Cass if they could speak privately; Alix hadn’t missed the questioning look from Chloe, who looked bored at the competition but clearly would demand details later.

“We’re not just Destined soulmate; you felt it too didn’t you?” Cass seemed to understand and nodded along.

“Romantic or platonic? What you’re asking” Tim had explained that, through horrible circumstances that they didn’t want to go into detail about, Cass hadn’t been taught how to speak but instead relied on body language to understand people; she was learning though but there would be times she wasn’t able to understand or properly translate her thoughts. Alix felt angered for her but also grateful that her soulmate got away from that situation.

“Yeah, pretty much… Do you care? That I’m a girl I mean!” Alix had heard plenty of horror stories of romantic soulmates having terrible reactions when it came to same-sex soulmates; personally she thought it was a dumb thing to react about but now she felt her heart beat so hard against her chest that she wouldn’t be surprised if Cass heard her.

“No; that’s irrelevant”

They heard a yelp, a grunt and then loud barking coming from down the hall. The two gave a quick look at one another before going to the main hall to investigate. This was what they saw;

Damian, looking like he had fallen, on top of Marinette, the two blushing though Marinette’s more prominent. Both having fallen victims to three dogs, two pitch black and the other stark white. All while a tall man Alix hadn’t seen before, one she assumed was the other brother Jason, was busy laughing his ass off and either recording or taking photos.

“You alright there Neti?”

“Ndasfs bwafsgr”

She had no idea what her soulmate said but she had to assume it was “never better”. As they got closer to the group Alix found herself getting nauseous the closer they got to the man. Distinctly she remembers Ladybug saying that True Users, that is the people destined to wield Miraculous, would begin growing an affinity to magic and the gifts their miraculous gave; Ladybug could instill good luck in any item she created, Roi Singe mentioned being able to know what exactly would cause chaos the fastest, Roter Fochs also said he was beginning to be able to tell lies and illusions faster than before, all while they were civilians.

Was what she was feeling dark magic?

“Uhh hey” mentally she smacked herself for sounding so nervous, catching the attention of the man.

“Wow and I thought Pixie Pop here was tiny, you’re practically an ant” the man chuckled but damn did that irk Alix.

“Oh yeah well this ant can totally kick your ass!”

“Can you even reach?”

“Oh yeah well I can totally kick your kneecaps”

“Calm” Cass stood between the two while Marinette and Damian had finally gotten the dogs to release them from an early end at the paws of some exciting animals.

“I’m just teasin’ Cass” the man said, Alix looking up <strike>and dammit that was annoying!</strike> noticing the white bangs he had, a weird choice but he made it work. “The name’s Todd, Jason Todd”

Alix rolled her eyes at the reference and the boyish smirk he gave them. As annoying as he was he was unfortunately good looking… All the Wayne’s were actually physically attractive. Was it one of the requirements or something? She stretched her arm out for him to shake, something she learned Americans did instead of kissing or hugging but she wasn’t complaining.

“Kubdel, Alix Kubdel; Cass, Damian, Tim and Mar’i’s soulmate” she smirked at his surprised look before clasping her hand.

For a second everything turned black.

She was looking at some sort of slideshow;

A young boy in an unfriendly alley, a shadow appearing behind him.   
That same boy was fighting, or at least that’s what it looked like, with a taller boy, one she thought looked like Dick, and a ginger girl, one she didn’t recognize from anyone they met.   
He was wearing a green, red and yellow uniform and jumping above rooftops, just like she did when she was Bunnix.

Slowly but surely everything turned like a trainwreck; she wasn’t able to look away.   
Alix was frozen in place, a silent scream in her, as she saw a masked boy tied and beaten by a clown, the Joker her mind filled in, all while an uninterested woman smoked in the corner.   
By the time Alix blinked Joker was gone, the boy limped to the door, the woman knocked out near the window, she noticed a timer… five seconds left.   
The boy gave a resigned smile up at the ceiling and looked at peace.

“Alix?”

The pink haired girl shook her head, noticing the group looking at her questioningly, she noticed a tear slid down her cheek while she was in that trance or whatever that thing was.

“You okay Alix?” Cass asked her, Alix just shook her head. There was no way she could explain this to them.

“Allergies” 

The three Gothamites looking like they didn’t believe her for a second while Marinette just looked in concern. Alix couldn’t help but look at Jason; what the hell had she seen? Had it really been him?

Was this the blessing of time? It seemed more like a curse to her...

  
  


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Rose looked at Lila quizzically.

She just didn’t understand why Marinette and her friends were so mean to Lila! They all used to be so close; she almost thought the whole class could be soulmates at some point but now there was a clear division and it devastated her.

She’s talked to prince Ali about it but her soulmate just suggested that she try looking at the situation from an outside perspective; he had looked uncomfortable when she told him about the struggles his friend Lila was going through in Paris but she  _ had  _ called in the middle of the night.

Now that she thought about it she never told Lila that they were soulmates; no one really talked about their soulmarks as much as Lila did but that must mean she treasured them dearly! Or it could just be an Italian thing. Rose knew her soulmates were private people and respected their wishes, which was why none of them had ever said anything about it.

Juleka was also acting weird, once Rose thought about the past few weeks, she stopped hanging out whenever Rose went out with her friends, preferring to stay at home or go somewhere with Luka.    
When she was with their friends she tended to cling with Rose but she was still shy, getting worse for a while a few months ago. She had even given up on modelling and had been akumatized; something Rose had been concerned about but had suddenly opened up again after a week. Rose had been so busy she wondered what had happened but was just content to see her soulmate happy again.

She had been hanging out with Juleka in their room, shared with Mylene, when Alya banged on the door and demanded a girls night. 

That was another thing that changed.

Ever since Marinette’s group began to go against Lila, Alya became much more of a hothead than she had been before. Rose once admired Alya’s dedication and tenacity but there were times she was scared of how violent the girl was becoming… Especially when she and Nino broke up.   
  
“S-Sure! I’ll be there in a bit” Rose yelped, turning to Juleka as they heard Alya bang on someone else’s door.

“You don’t have to go just because she asks Rose” Juleka’s ruby eyes looked at Rose’s cerulean.

“They’re our friends Jules” Rose clasped her hands, warming up at Juleka’s small smile before turning into a sigh.

“... They don’t really seem like friends these days Rosebud”

Now Rose sat in Lila’s room with Alya, Sabrina and Mylene. She may have lied and said that Juleka was still jet lagged and wanted to take a nap, Sabrina and Mylene nodding in understanding while Alya rolled her eyes. 

When Lila came back into the room Rose thought she had almost glared at the empty space but she must have also still been tired. She turned to the group with a clap of her hands and telling them about the important phone call she had just finished.

“Are you really saying Mr. Agreste is coming to Gotham, Lila?” Sabrina asked surprised. They were all shocked; no offense to Adrien but his father was notorious for not even attending his own events in person even before Mrs.Agreste passed.

“Yep! I managed to convince him to attend my Dami-bear’s gala, he was so grateful that he even decided to make me a dress, custom made, as thanks” she smiled as Alya congratulated her.

“I promise it’ll be a  _ memorable  _ night”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like my work? Buy me a Ko-Fi


	4. Midnight Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Destined have a lot to think of, with so many questions are their answers closer than they believe?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops has it been 2 months already, yikes.  
This was actually going to be longer but for the sake of pacing I've divided it. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.

Marinette laid on her bed, rethinking all the events that had happened on their eventful first full day at Gotham.

They had left Wayne Manor not long after Marinette and Alix’s encounter with Jason. The shorter girl seemed tense after that, not talking much and seemingly in her own head. She couldn’t help but think that Alix was becoming more aware and sensitive with magic, Jason’s corrupted magic probably being the catalyst for her current state.

She had heard from the other that they were beginning to show signs of being the True Holders as they slowly gained gifts from the Miraculous. The Miracle Book hadn’t gone into detail about them but she knew that the Rabbit Miraculous had the gift of Time, something about being able to look into different points in time.

She just hoped that Alix hadn’t seen something she’d regret.

  
  


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Jason had felt strange.

It was as though someone had been following him, he even went around circles in an attempt to shake them off and came through the back entrance of Wayne Manor but still. He was literally in the Bat Cave and he still felt like there was someone near, watching him.

“Jason?” he shook his head, mentally cursing himself out for zoning out during the weekly Bat Family (Dick’s naming) meeting. He really was feeling out of it.

“What?” he briskly responded, not wanting it to seem so obvious that his head was somewhere else, which was a fruitless endeavor in a family of detectives. Since this was officially Bat Family Business™, that meant “Papa Supes” and aunt Diana weren’t allowed in, or any of their kids/protege. Not even Kori or Wally even if they were married into the family at this point; Mar’i however, was an exception but they didn’t like her being there when they talked about the knitty gritty and gory.

“We were asking you about any recent gang activity in your area” Bruce repeated, hoping nothing was going on with his second son, especially since they had only recently gotten more civil with one another after the announcement of Jason Peter Todd-Wayne being alive.

“Right,” Jason sighed, taking out his phone and placing it on the hologram “From what I gather the gang wars are decreasing but it has nothing to do with us. Some lackeys have been talkin’ about some sort of temporary alliance, big money paying them off or some shit. Whatever is going down, it’ll be soon. I’d say three months tops”

“Who do you think would hire them?” Stephanie asked, sitting criss-cross applesauce on the chair. She was still pouting at the fact that she missed meeting her pseudo-family's soulmates; she’d just have to embarrass them another day.

“It could be Joker, though he’s more of the type to intimidate or gather other people like him” Tim pursed his lips, this could cause big chaos for them; especially if the plan is another Arkham breakout.

“Maybe Bane if this is another attempt to take over Gotham” Dick groaned, he really did not want to deal with another mass Arkham breakout; he always ended up in the med bay with two overprotective redheads….Okay so maybe that wasn’t so bad but Mar’i would always be scared or cry if he was gone for long periods of time after those sort of events. He hated doing that to her but he did it so the city would be just a little safer for her.

As the group delved into different theories and began to do research on whoever it was that paid off the gangs, Jason found his focus becoming hazy. He tried ignoring it but it was like something at the back of his head was pulsing. He hoped it wasn’t because of Roy’s stint yesterday with the bazooka he tested out on their “recon” mission. He swore the asshole did it on purpose sometimes; his ginger ass was lucky that Jason preferred that Lian have a father than none at all.

“I’m hitting the hay; long stake-out yesterday” he lazily waved them off, not noticing the concerned looks thrown his way. As soon as he was going up the stairs to the second floor of the manor that feeling of being watched intensified.

Turning around, hand on his hidden pistol, as quickly as he could, he barely caught sight of a shadow disappearing.

He must be seeing things.

  
  


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It was five in the morning.

_ Five in the freaking morning. _

Why did Hawkmoth hate her so much?

That was what was going through Marinette’s head as she transported to Paris, already in her Unicorn gear, her combination name for Ladybug and the Horse Miraculous. The Parisian girl was thrown off by the sudden intensity of the sunlight until she remembered it was 11 in the morning there.

_ Ugh, time zones. _

Stifling a yawn she saw Ryuko and Viperion already dealing with the Akuma only for it to disappear, a swarm of pilagers with fire and calling them “witches” taking its place. The Akuma leading the charge, an old French style king; pale white skin popping out with the long dark curly hair with an accompanying mustache, puffy sleeved armor in a too shiny silver and a vibrant purple sash to go with it. This ensemble was complimented by the horse he was riding.

It looked incredibly tacky.

Great,  _ another  _ time Akuma.

“Kalkki, divide” Ladybug said, running towards a streetlamp and throwing her yo-yo. She used the momentum to launch herself onto a nearby rooftop and using her yo-yo to pull Viperion up while Ryuko turned into a wind dragon to catch up to them. 

“How’s Gotham?” Viperion smiled, as though they didn’t have a swarm of people from different time periods out to kill them or burn down Paris trying.

“Pretty cool, we’ve met some destined soulmates so that’s something” she shrugged, trying to come up with a plan before having to rely on Lucky Charm. Absentmindedly she remembered to feed Kalkki a sugarcube.

“Only you would be so lucky Mari” Ryuko nodded along, peeking over and narrowly avoiding the array of arrows.

“Well this is a pickle” Viperion thought aloud as he strummed his harp, “ I think it’s time to activate Second Chance”

Ladybug nodded, a convoluted plan coming up in her mind. She could only hope that her Lucky Charm proved she was going about it the right way. Glass shattered below them as she launched her yo-yo in the air and yelled out “Lucky Charm!”

A Chinese calendar fell from the sky in red; black spots on the Rabbit, Monkey and Horse.

“Well looks like we have a pickup to do”

  
  


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She couldn’t sleep.

Not really anyway, at about four in the fucking morning she’d woken up from a restless sleep. She tried going back to sleep, twisting and turning before giving up and accepting that she wouldn’t be going to sleep soon but didn’t want to bother and wake up Marinette; she could be cranky if sleep deprived.

Alix laid in the hotel’s bed and stared at the ceiling as though it would have the universe’s answers. 

_ Guess not. _

The girl was still reeling in what she had witnessed from Jason when they touched. Nothing like that had ever happened and even then what she witnessed made no sense; that bomb looked legit and even Jason, wearing a costume she thought was familiar but couldn’t put her finger on it, looked beaten half to death and like he accepted his fate.

But somehow here he was.

If she had to say anything she’d almost think it was Ladybug’s power but the red clad heroine has stated that her powers only go so far; she can’t cure diseases and she can’t bring back the dead. Apparently someone, Lie-la, claimed that Ladybug cured her of some disease or another which, of course, caught the attention of doctors all over the city to see if the claims were true and if Ladybug could cure all disease.

It had resulted in a pretty nasty Akuma, Doctor Posey (and man, Alix came to hate the nursery rhyme for months), when a few thought Ladybug was lying and just being selfish. Ladybug called in all of her temporary users excluding Queen Bee and Chat “No Show Even Though The City Was Literally Dying” Noir ; even then it took almost half a day to defeat it because it could transform into a cloud of black ash. As a result Bunnix and the team had to come up with a way to get the population of Paris to realise that although magical none of them could really do something to the extremes of Lila’s lies (as far as they were aware a year ago).

It was a fucking PR nightmare, even contacting Chloe for some ideas, and she wondered if it would be unheroic to just throw Lila into the void of the time-space continuum.

But then again she’d have to deal with Lie-la whenever she used Burrow.

Alix sighed when a knock came at the door, given how the class was divided there was a 50-50 chance it was one of her friends versus The Entourage. Peeking through the peephole she sighed as it was only Max and Kim, still weirded out because it was probably five at this point.

As quietly as she could Alix tiptoed out into the hallway, having to adjust to the lighting which was another cause of concern she should ask the big LB since she had “half night vision” since everything looked grainy but definitely better in the dark than it should.

“What do you nerds want?” she yawned, her tired state finally catching up to her. Given the appearance of the two they hadn’t slept much longer than she did.

“Can’t sleep either?” Max sighed while Kim looked like he’d topple over onto them at any second.

“Huh?” the three looked over to the noise of a creaking door, only to see three people join them in the hallway. Marc and Nathaniel’s hair were all over the place with obvious bed hair while Nino had heavy eye bags that Chloe may even say are Gucci.

“Why are we all up right now?” Marc groaned, snuggling into Nathaniel. Belatedly they noticed the ink stains and lead on their hands; must have been working on something for the comic then.

“Can we take this inside before someone notices?” Nino fidgetted, the group looking at Alix who groaned and opened the door to her shared room. They moved as quietly as they could, trying to not knock into the wall or door.

“So? Who wants to start?” Alix took charge, having become Marinette’s second in command in school now that Chloe was gone.

“... Nightmares” Nino sighed in admittance, “Alya kept spamming my phone and tried getting into my room when we came back. I just𑁋” he softly rubbed at the area where his abundance of wrist bands laid, covering the beginning of a mark they knew belonged to Alya. “I guess I felt guilty? For treating her with a cold shoulder since she’s my soulmate. At least that’s what she kept telling me along the lines of me being a pathetic soulmate… ”

“Stop that” Marc said, holding Nino’s hand on his own “ That’s not your fault; no one chooses their soulmates. You tried helping her but she refused and just tried dragging you down the mud with her, that’s not healthy” the normally shy boy said with steeled parakeet eyes.

“She’s just trying to manipulate you” Max shook his head in shame “ If she really cared for you she would respect your opinion and not force you to choose sides or even consider your words rather than brush them aside”

“It's not cool what she’s doing𑁋 Wait did you say break into your room?” Kim asked in concern. “We never let anyone in?”

Nino began to fidget as the others began to piece the clues together. It was startling and soon felt shivers go up their spines; If Kim, Max and Nino hadn’t invited or opened their shared hotel suite for anyone then how did Alya try to get in Nino’s room specifically.

“Did… Did she sneak in when we went to get some drinks?” Max questioned, remembering that he and Kim had left to buy some drinks out of the vending machine. It had been meant as a quick trip but then had been distracted by the Entourage. Had it been a set up?

But why?

There was no logical reason for why they’d be messing with Nino like this.

“Was there anyone else in the hallway when you guys left?” Nathaniel asked as the duo looked at each other.

_ “Lila” _

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“What was that about Todd?” Jason cocked his gun until it was pointed at an unimpressed Damian, using his pointer to lower the gun .

“What the fuck demon spawn” Jason pocketed his gun after puting the safety lock on it again, maybe it had just been in his mind?

“That still doesn’t say why you decided to point a gun at me. I was under the impression we were over this stage in our relationship?” the family, and begrudgingly Damian, were worried about how out of it Jason was. Whenever they looked at him for his opinion he’d stay quiet and look around the crevices of the Batcave and,according to Alred, he came in through the rarely used back entrance of the manor. Barbara looked at his motorcycle’s GPS records and it showed him trying to get away from someone tailing him.

Had his identity been compromised? Was he under the influence? He didn’t smell of alcohol but… They knew Jason was the last person who would ever turn to drugs but one could never know. Maybe a small dose of fear gas; though they hadn’t heard from Scarecrow in a while. Was he even in Arkham?

They’d have to investigate.

So, Damian was volunteered to see if he could get an idea of what was going on with Jason.

Which is how Damian found himself following his brother to his room and a gun pointed at him.

“Do you always have to be such a ninja?” Jason groaned as he made his way up the staircase, knowing Damian would follow behind in any way, both since he’s persistent if he wanted answers and his room was down the same hall.

“Tt. If you were more aware of your surroundings you would have noticed me, I wasn’t even trying to be silent” Damian rolled his eyes, though he was telling the truth; there were days when some of the family members felt paranoid, the closest word for it anyway, and became hyperaware. They had taken to being a bit more noisy in their movements when they noticed; well Damian and Tim put more effort seeing as the other males could do so easily with their body types. Alfred always had a soft click to his shoes in those sort of days.

“So what’s wrong with you Todd? You haven’t done something idiotic that would warrent our concern over you have you?”

“Aww, I didn’t know you cared demon”

“I do not, however, your incompetence could put all of us, Lian and Mar’i included, in danger”

“Whatever you say Demon” Jason shrugged as he reached his room, Damian pushed his way in as the door was about to close on his face.

“So what is it that you’re doing you dope?” 

“It’s nothing you shit” Jason responded annoyed, it probably was nothing and just Bat Paranoia, was that shit even contagious?

“You may be a dumbass but you’re not completely idiotic; if you really thought it was nothing then you wouldn’t be acting like this” damn did the demon spawn really think so highly of him, at least in his own demon way?

Before Damian could respond the door clicked shut behind them.

Neither had been close to the door.

Suddenly they heard the door’s lock turn, windows shut and curtains close.

The two had taken to standing back to back, taking out their weapons in the process; a pistol and dagger.

_ “This was easier than I thought” _

  
  


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Alya thought it was an excellent idea, she was grateful that her  _ soulmate  _ had thought of it for her.

If only Nino would get off of his high horse and actually be with her rather than Liar-nette. Couldn’t he see that he was just being manipulated by that girl? She was just jealous of Lila’s accomplishments and her relationship with Adrien.

He’d see the light soon enough.

“Don’t you think you’re being too… harsh on Nino '' Sabrina squeaked out before Alya could glare back.

“He needs to see that what he’s doing is unacceptable; we’re soulmates, he’s supposed to be with  _ me  _ not her” Alya scoffed as she sent her twentieth text of the night.

“B-But calling him useless and pathetic is a bit… “

“What, Raincomprix? It’s not like you didn’t do the same when Chloe started her shit” Alya ignored the redhead’s flinch. Nino had to learn the truth, even if it hurt him now he’d be grateful in the future when they’re living happily as a star reporter and famous director.

It would be all thanks to her soulmate; Lila Rossi.

“Alya I got the stopper in just like you asked” Lila said, peaking through the door of Alya’s room, “I don’t know how long the others will be able to distract them though. I can go make sure you get enough time but my wrist is starting to hurt…”

“It’s alright Lila” the girl cooed “What you’ve done is more than enough. You really are a good soulmate to have”

Alya steeled herself as she made her way into the boy’s shared room; truly this hurt her as much as it would hurt Nino but it needed to happen if they wanted their mark to fully develop. Ever since the class divide she almost felt as though the mark continued to fade away until nothing would remain.

And it was all selfish, jealous, bitchy Marinette’s fault.

“Nino!” she began to knock on his door, hoping the boy wouldn’t be asleep.

“Nino we need to talk!”

No such luck; the lights were off and she couldn’t hear anything in there. She’d just need to be louder.

“Nino Lahiffe get your ass up!” she banged harder on the door. 

A thought occurred to her.

Alya reached for the door handle, feeling as the handle began to click and open.

Then it zapped her.

Alya retracted her hand, trying to open the door again only to find that it wouldn’t open.

It was stuck.

She tried opening it with more effort, even resorting to slamming into the door but nothing budged.

“Alya hurry they’re coming back” Sabrina whispered, the girl in question sighed. She turned to leave but decided to say one last thing.

“You’ll have to come back eventually Nino. We’re soulmates; its inevitable”

The two girls left the room, taking off the stopper, not knowing that they left the boy in a glowing green mess, crying into his pillow and wondering what he could do.

  
  


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“Those bitches are dead” Alix growled, feeling both disappointed and relieved that they weren’t in Paris. Who knows what sort of Akuma she’d be with the anger within her.

“Max can’t you like hack into the surveillance?” Nathaniel asked, suddenly more awake than he had been before. Max was typing on his phone, a knock coming from the window. The group turned to see the little robot, Markov, waving as Marc went to open for him.

“Shouldn’t we tell Marinette about this?” Nino asked shyly, the group turning to the closed door. It was weird with how noisy they were being that they hadn’t woken her up but then again she could sleep through a storm.

“I’ll go” Nathaniel sighed, getting up from the couch and walked to the closed door. He gave a soft knock, knowing that if he did so abruptly she’d kill him considering the sun was barely coming up.

“Hey Marinette, we have to talk about something”

Knock, knock

Nothing

“Marinette?”

Knock, knock, knock

“If you can hear me then I’m coming in”

Nothing.

“Uhhh  _ guys _ ” the red haired boy began to panic after opening the door. An empty bed with messed up sheets being the only indication that the petite girl had slept in it. “Marinette’s not in her room”

_ “What!?” _

The group ran into the vacant room, looking all over the place but not finding their soulmate anywhere in sight. Her phone still charging on the bedside and suitcase still in the closet.

It was just her that vanished.

“Oh gods what do we do?” Marc began to panic, prior worries placed on the backburner. 

“Bustier won’t do shit” Alix automatically said, leaving them with less option than they liked.

“No ones gone in or out of this room since we came back from Wayne Manor” Max said, showing the security footage on Markov’s screen.

“But Mari couldn’t have just disappeared out of nowhere” Nathaniel argued, feeling as though the truth was much closer than they believed.

“Yeah she’s not like Bunnix or Pegasus who can basically teleport” Kim exclaimed when it suddenly began to click to some of them. Alix, Nathaniel and Max began to feel the mark on their back feel warmer, the one where the Ladybug was placed.

_ Oh _

A soft glow suddenly began to appear in the room, a familiar turquoise portal, appearing near the window. Suddenly Ladybug, Ryuko and Viperion appeared and narrowly missed an inflamed arrow.

“Uhh LB?” Viperion pointed at the group of teenagers staring at them with awed looks.

“ _ Heyyyyyy _ ” the normally composed scarlet hero waved awkwardly “So, funny story”

“Holy crap you really are Ladybug” Nathaniel whispered as things began to click for the others.

“Wait, Kagami and Luka?” Marc shook his head, the others finding that it really was their soulmates and feeling very much dumb for not realizing it sooner.

“Sup guys” Luka winked and Kagami sighed at his antics.

“Hello”

“Wow as much fun as explaining all this is we kind have an akuma on the loose right now” Ladybug laughed nervously taking out an all too familiar black box, though it was the first time Marc had seen it, along with Ryuko and Viperion.

“Pegasus, Roi Singe and Bunnix; you’re up” the group stared at one another before Max, Kim and Alix stepped up and grabbing their perspective Miraculous.

“Is it day already? Or is it afternoon? I can never tell” were the first words out of Fluff’s mouth as she cuddled towards Alix.

“Ugh you again you big dope” Xuppu huffed as he tapped Kim’s forehead.

“Have you gotten more famous to match me?” Kaalki asked Max before eyeing Markov possessively.

“We can talk more about that after the Akuma” Ryuko indicated

“Yeah Paris is kinda literally on fire right now”

“Fluff, Clockwise!”

“Xuppu, Showtime!”

“Kalkki, Full Gallop!”

  
  


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“Show yourself!” Damian threatened, focused on his senses, trying to hear where the voice was coming from.

The books fell from Jason’s shelf.

“You son of a bitch those were my books” Jason growled, for as much of a muscle head he looked like he was always a bookworm at heart. No one messed with his books.

_ “Hahaha you humans will be fun!”  _

Humans?

“Damn it Demon Brat this better not be some satanic bullshit” 

“Why are you blaming me Todd! You’re the one who came back from the dead”   
  


“So did you bitch!”

“I’m not a demon” the being’s voice echoed through the room “But Sugarcube might argue otherwise”

“Oh great, even this demon has a better love life than us” Jason rolled his eyes as he gripped onto his hand gun. “That’s not an open invitation for “Sugarcube” to come haunt this joint either”

“She’s already been here. I felt her presence earlier” the entity chuckled “But enough of that; I came to look for the soul of Destruction”

“The what of the  _ what _ ?” Jason looked concerned; that title gave major apocalyptic and antichrist vibes to be anything good. Suddenly a giant shadow in the shade of a cat circled over them, leaning into Jason’s shadow and causing him to shiver.

“Your soul is tainted with corrupted magic but you’re also close to my kit” suddenly the shadow cat stood straight, its tail and ears peaked before turning to Damian. Jason had a bad feeling about this all.

“Kit?”

“What did you just call me?” the boy in question asked with hints of annoyance and skepticism in his voice.

“You! It’s you, you are the real Black Cat!” Suddenly the shadow cat was gone, a black blur launching from the bookcase and straight into Damian’s chest, a purr coming from it.

It looked like a little black cat.

“... Are you the actual antichrist, demon spawn?”

“Fuck off, Todd”

  
  


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Adrien found it easy to sleep that night. With Plagg giving him the silent treatment and Ivan going straight to bed it was quiet in the room; it eerily reminded him of home.

The quiet just helped him ease into slumber.

There was no annoying Lila to cling on his body every minute of the day.

No Alya trying to get the inside scoop on his life or try to hook him up with Lila.

No class feud to have to play a part of.

No Marinette to try, and fail, to convince to just take the high road with.

No morning photoshoots as he’d finished all of them and demanded he be allowed to go on the trip; he needed it to hang out with Nino and get him to finish the bond.

No Plagg lecturing him about shrugging off his responsibilities and telling him he couldn’t just be a free cat.

No bothersome Akuma to interrupt his day or make his Lady cranky.

In his dreams everything could be the way it should;

His mom was around and his father would be happy.

Nino would beg for his and Alya’s forgiveness for being so stupid as to deny destiny.

Lila would stop lying and let him be, maybe even be so ashamed as to move back to Italy.

Kagami and Luka would start talking to him again.

Chloe would come back to Paris with her mom so they could hang out like when they were kids again.

Half the class would stop hating one another and be friends again.

Marinette’s group would stop giving him strange looks whenever he tried talking to Marinette or Nino.

Marinette would apologize for blowing everything out of proportions, maybe because she was jealous of everyone having soulmates. Of course Adrien would forgive her, maybe even comfort her and make plans to get matching tattoos; after all she had been a good friend before the Lila thing, she could still be a good friend after everything was done.

Hawkmoth and Mayura would be defeated by Team Miraculous and would face the consequences of their actions; rotting in jail for the pain they’ve been for the past few years.

Ladybug would admit that she was being stupid, that she was in love with him and that they were romantic soulmates, before revealing her identity.

Adrien slept well that night, not knowing that everything was about to crash around him.

  
  


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“She did  _ what _ ?” three voices echoed in a not empty hotel room at almost six in the morning, having returned from Paris after dealing with the akuma and the rest of the fallout. Marinette felt an oncoming migraine from how furious she had gotten and the oncoming bullshit she could feel coming her way.

“I swear those assholes keep reaching new lows” Luka basically growled out, wondering if his sister was a lost cause for hanging out with them or he could convince his mom to help him knock some sense into her.

“Is there anything we can do about this?” Kagami asked, intending to use that anger towards Cesaire and Rossi next time she had to face an akuma.

“It’s whatever guys” Nino held his hand up before any of them could begin to protest, “That… experience helped me unlock this” he kept his hand up before closing his eyes and humming, a green glow suddenly appearing and spreading through his body .

“Sick, dude” Alix said in awe, Kim tried touching his hand only for Nino to yelp for him to stop.

“W-When Alya tried opening the door to my room it- it zapped her. I don’t know if it’ll do the same to you” Marinette examined his glowing body, being the most knowledgeable about the effects of the Miraculous magic.

“This might be like a modified version of shell-ter. There were other incidents cited with past turtle users though they tended to vary; some would only protect the user, some protected anyone they desired, few kept everyone away from them. Our best bet is to test it out now” Marinette got up, gesturing for Nino to follow suit before walking towards him, slowly she placed her hand on his…. Nothing happened.

“So it seems that this will only protect against those perceived as enemies” Max concluded.

“It seems most useful in cases of self-defense or when caught up by an akuma as a civilian” Kagami added on, “Though we should train these secondary abilities in case we’re caught off guard”

“Speaking of,” Marc began, twisting his hands together shyly. “You’re basically saying that our Soulbond, our Destined Soulbond, is for those that are meant to wield a Miraculous, right?”

“I know it must seem nuts since you haven’t gotten yours yet but yes” Luka rubbed the shoulder shorter child.

“So which am I supposed to get?” it was one of the downsides of having your soulmark on your back since they couldn’t actually see them unless they had mirrors or just looked at another’s back, which was kinda awkward. Marinette gave a look to Kagami and Luka, the two nodding as she sighed.

“You, Marc Anciel, are the True soul of Emotion; you’re supposed to wield the Peacock Miraculous” the room suddenly turned somber, remembering what their mission had to be. “But as we know, Mayura and Hawkmoth currently poses it and the Butterfly Miraculous”

“Oh” was all Marc could find he could say. It was strange, knowing that he should be in the possession of a powerful magical artifact yet it was taken from him. Then he remembered what happened earlier in the day.

“W-When I met m.Pennyworth I realized that the mark looked like the shape of a feather… you don’t think?”

“He did give off a… mysterious vibe” Kim thought back “So did Damian, Tim, Cass, Mar’i and Jason”

“Yeah but Jason’s was weird” Nathaniel nodded “And that old grandfather clock was also”

“You tried snooping in on it” Marc rolled his eyes “You could have gotten us in trouble”

“Speaking of Jason, “ Alix began, worried but knowing now was as good a time as any “I saw something, something I think I wasn’t supposed to, about Jason.

“I saw Jason die, but not in the future… it already happened”

  
  
  


⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤●⬤

  
  


“So you mean to tell us that you’re some ancient primordial God of Destruction and Misfortune and can lend your power to whoever wears your ring. Not only that but some asshole is currently holding the city of Paris as hostage because he wants you power and the power of your ‘Sugarcube’ to do some sort of world altering bullshit” Jason looked so done as he combed through his hair.

“And the current wielder of your ring is incompetent and not taking his job seriously, harrassing his parttner and acting like a total child instead” Damian glared, not liking how the situation sounded. 

Neither knew what to do in the situation. Should they tell the rest of the Bat Clan about this, it seemed like the best move. Considering Plass was here it meant that cat boy was too, but that was only if they elected to trust what he was saying and not assume he was some demon or a new villain. One look into the small God’s eyes, the strikingly familiar radioactive color, and somehow, even knowing him for less than an hour, he knew that Plagg was telling the truth.

“I believe you” Damian ignored the incredulous look Jason was giving him before sitting down on Jason’s bed.

“Fine, if Demon Spawn believes you I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. So who’s the kid with your ring?” Jason sighed, somehow feeling that this would be a lot more complicated than it should be.

“I can’t tell you, it’s a curse. All I can do is give you hints, maybe even help you meet up with the new Guardian, Ladybug” he looked annoyed as he admitted this. 

“He’s blonde with green eyes, about your age” he gestured to Damian “His face is pretty familiar and tries to pass off as a pacifist”

“I’ll need to go back soon, if he finds out I was missing he might just renounce my powers which will make it harder to track me down. But before I do, ”

Plagg began to glow, in a weird way since radiating darkness didn’t really qualify as glowing, as he quickly circled around Jason, both boys tensing as he did so. As he continued they noticed a green, red and black smoke leaving Jason, the man looking paler as he let out a shuddered breath.

“What was  _ that _ ?” Damian demanded, not caring if he sounded childish or demanding. Jason swayed before holding himself up with the banister of his bed.

“That was his corrupted magic, I could only do so much without Tikki”

“Everything seems less… hazy” Jason admitted, feeling a truly clear head for the first time in a long while.

“What did you get yourself into kid?” Plagg asked curiously, they supposed the whole thing about curiosity killing the cat may have to do with him.

“That would be the Lazarus Pit”

They felt as the room’s temperature dropped significantly, practically seeing their breaths before hearing a knock.

“Hey Dami you want to play Ultimate Mecha Strike 3?” Jon’s muffled voice could be heard from behind the door.

“I-I have to go, I’ll let you know what the Guardian thinks”

As Plagg flew across the Gotham night sky he couldn’t help but think.

They had destroyed them all right?

It couldn’t possibly be the same Lazarus Pits, he and the other Kwamis had vowed to destroy them all…

They did destroy them, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been pretty MIA lately, I've had personal ish come up plus working on other works in the meantime. I actually have a new Dickinette series called _[Staying Whelmed and Erable](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612798)_ and have Timari and Jasonette thing in the works, keep a look out!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading  
**[Ko-Fi](https://www.ko-fi.com/eve-valution)**
> 
> **  
[Follow me on Tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/eve-valution)  
**


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